Zips Play Davidson on Christmas Day at Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic

Monday, December 25

Honolulu, HI

12:30 p.m.

University of Akron

Davidson

Tickets

Zips Play Davidson on Christmas Day at Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic

December 24 | Men's Basketball

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Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic • Tournament Brackets: Eastern Standard Time | Hawaiian Time
Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic
Akron Zips (6-4) Mid-American vs Davidson (4-6) Atlantic 10
Monday, Dec. 25 • Stan Sheriff Center • Honolulu, Hawaii • 12:30 PM ET • ESPNU

Davidson Head Coach
Bob McKillop (Hofstra '72)
Overall Record: 537-334 (29th Season)
Record at Davidson: 537-334 (29th Season)

Akron Zips Head Coach
John Groce (Taylor '94)
Overall Record: 186-135 (10th Season)
Record at Akron: 6-4 (First Season)
MAC Record at Akron: 0-0 (First Season)
Overall MAC Record: 34-30 (at Ohio and Akron)

All-Time Series
Series Tied: 1-0 Groce vs Princeton: 0-0
Last Meeting: Akron 62, Princeton 58 - Dec. 30, 2012 at James A. Rhodes Arena (Akron, Ohio)

Broadcast
TV/Video: ESPNU – Kanoa Leahey (PxP) and Brooke Weisbrod (Analyst)
Live Stats: GoZips.com/Schedule - Live Stats
Radio: Akron-IMG Sports Network - Steve French (PxP) and Joe Dunn (Analyst) WARF 1350 AM (flagship), iHeart Radio, TuneIn.com/Akron Zips

What's Ahead
The Akron Zips look for a win on Christmas Day at the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic as they lineup against Davidson for their final game in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Zips and the Wildcats dropped their first two games and are scheduled to Monday, Dec. 25 at 12:30 p.m. ET at the Stan Sheriff Center. The game is scheduled to air on ESPNU as Kanoa Leahey will call the action and Brooke Weisbrod will provide analysis.

Fans can also follow the action on GoZips.com via Live Stats or by Zips' radio. The Zips' radio broadcast will air on the Akron-IMG Sports Network SportsRadio 1350 AM (WARF) in Akron (flagship) with Steve French calling the action and Joe Dunn providing analysis. The pregame show starts 30 minutes prior to the contest. The free audio stream is available at SportsRadio1350.com, iHeart Radio, and TuneIn.com/Akron Zips.

The Akron-Davidson Series
Monday's game marks the first meeting in series history between the Zips and Wildcats. In addition, it is Zips' head coach John Groce first meeting against Davidson.

Scouting the Wildcats
Davidson enters the game with a 4-6 overall record, and an 0-2 record at the 2017 Hawaiian Diamond Head Classic. The Wildcats fell by one point to New Mexico State in opening round action, 69-68, and dropped its second-round contest to Hawai'i, 79-71. The Wildcats have played a tough schedule to date, defeating Charleston Southern, UNCW, Charlotte, and VMI. Davidson fell to Nevada, Appalachian State, North Carolina, Virginia, New Mexico State, and Hawai'i. The Wildcats average 78.1 points per outing on 45.5 percent shooting from the floor with a 36.6 percent effort from beyond the 3-point arc, draining 11.6 triples a game while more than half of their shots come from deep.

The Wildcats have three players scoring in double figures as Peyton Aldridge leads the squad with 22.4 points per game. Aldridge shoots 44.3 percent from the field (82-of-185) and leads the Tigers from behind the 3-point arc with 24 made triples with a 32.0 shooting percentage (24-of-75). He pulls down a team-best 6.7 rebounds per game (67) with a second-best 35 assists. Jon Axel Gundmundsson follows with 15.5 points per contest. Gundmundsson is 50-of-100 from the floor with a 50.0 shooting percentage. He has buried 21 shots from deep at a 39.6 percent rate (21-of-53). Gundmundsson dishes out a team-high 5.4 assists per game (54) and grabs the second most boards at 5.8 per game (58). Kellan Grady rounds out the double-digit scoring with 13.5 points per game. He has nailed 45.1 percent of his shots from the field (51-of-113) and 39.6 percent from downtown (22-of-58). Oskar Michelsen and Rusty Reigel are offensive threats from deep. Both, have double-digit 3-point buckets made as Michelsen is 17-of-35 (.486) and Reigel is 13-of-21 (.619), the highest percentage shooters on the squad from deep.

Defensively, the Wildcats limit their opponents to 73.6 points per game with a 46.1 shooting percentage from the floor and 35.9 percent from 3-point range, allowing 7.4 long distance strikes per night. Davidson has caused 99 turnovers (9.9 to/g) with 48 steals (4.8 stl/g). In addition, the Wildcats have been slightly outrebounded by a -2.7 margin on the glass, 331-358.

The Zips in Hawaii
Akron is 2-8 all-time in Hawaii as the Zips make their second appearance at the Diamond Head Classic (0-2). Akron made two previous trips to Hawaii. In 1991-92, Akron went 0-2 at the Hawaiian Pre-Holiday Tournament, falling to Detroit (55-54) and Idaho State (93-87). During the 2001-02 season, the Zips went 1-2 in the Hawaiian Pacific Thanksgiving Classic, posting a win over Liberty (90-56) after falling to Monmouth (64-61) and Hampton (67-59). In 2013-14, Akron posted a 1-2 record at its first appearance in the Diamond Head Classic, defeating Oregon State (83-71) in the opener before falling to Iowa State (83-60) and South Carolina (69-59).

Regular Season Tournaments
Akron is 60-37, 39-30 in the Division I era (since 1980) in regular season tournaments. Akron has posted multiple wins in 11 of the last 12 in-season tournaments, including three championships. The Zips won two tournaments last season, the Savannah Invitational (4-0) and Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invitational (2-0). In 2015-16, Akron went 2-0 at the Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic to claim the title. In 2014-15, Akron posted a 2-1 record in the Gildan Charleston Classic following the previous tournament runs at the Puerto Rico Tip-Off (2012, 2-1), 2K Sports Classic (2011, 2-2), the Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic (2010, 3-1), the Glenn Wilkes Classic (2009, 2-2), the Legends Classic (2008, 2-2), the Top of the World Classic (2007, 2-1) and the San Juan Shootout (2005, 2-1).

HAWAIIAN AIRLINES DIAMOND HEAD CLASSIC NOTES
DAY 2
Semifinal 1: USC 89, Middle Tennessee 84
-USC is 5-0 in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
-MTSU is now 1-1 in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
-USC is going to play for its second Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic Championship, winning the inaugural Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic in 2009.
-USC joins San Diego State as the only teams to reach the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic championship game twice. SDSU, the 2016 Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic Champion, is 1-1 in championship games.
-The Pac-12 is now 15-8 in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
-Conference USA is now 3-5 in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic. A CUSA team has never played for the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic Championship.
USC, down two at 66-64, went on an 11-2 run in a 2:26 period to take a seven-point lead and never trailed again.
-USC's 89 points tied for third for the highest single-game point total in Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic history.
-The game's combined 173 points ranks third for combined points in Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic history. The 177 points of the Ohio-DePaul game of 2014 (Ohio 99-78) is first, with the 175 points in the San Francisco-Utah game of 2016 (SF 89-86) second. Fourth is 172 points of Indiana State-Mississippi in 2010 (ISU 87-85 ot) and BYU-New Mexico of 2015 (BYU 96-66).

Semifinal 2: New Mexico State 63, #6/7 Miami (Fla.) 54
-NM State is now 2-0 in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
-Miami (Fla.) is now 2-3 in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
-The WAC is now 7-4 in Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
-NM State is the first WAC team to play in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic Championship game.
-The ACC is now 5-6 in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
-NM State's first win over a ranked team since 2007 (#15 Nevada 80-73 in Las Cruces, N.M. on Jan. 20, 2007).
-NM State's first win over a Top 10 team since beating #7 UNLV 83-2 in Las Cruces, N.M. on Jan. 8, 1990.
-Miami suffered its first loss of the season.
-NM State took the lead with 3:45 to play in the first half and never trailed in the second half, although Miami used a 10-2 run to cut a nine point lead to one at 52-51 with 2:08 to play.
-NM State followed with an 11-3 run to close the game.

Consolation 1: Princeton vs Akron
-Princeton is now 1-1 in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
-Akron is now 1-4 in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
-The Ivy League is now 3-2 in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
-The Mid-America Conference (MAC) is now 4-7 Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
-There were nine ties and eight lead changes in the game decided by a layup at the horn.
-Princeton used a 20-9 run after trailing by seven at 37-30 to take the second half lead. The Tigers were tied by the Zips three more times afterward, but never trailed, before getting the winning shot.
-It was Princeton's second game in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic decided by the game's last shot.

Consolation 2: Davidson vs. Hawai'i
-Hawai'i is now 11-12 in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
-Davidson is now 0-2 in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
-The Big West is now 8-9 in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
-The Atlantic 10 (A-10) is now 5-6 in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
-The key run of the game came in the first half, following a 7-all tie Hawai'i went on a 12-0 run and extended it to an 18-6 run to grab a lead they would not relinquish.
-Hawai'i's 79 points are the most in Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic since a 79-67 win over Auburn in the 2015 Classic third place game.

Overall Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic
-Three games in the 2017 Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic have been decided by the last shot (Middle Tennessee scores with :04 and Princeton misses 3 at buzzer; NM State scores with :10 and Davidson misses a 3 at buzzer; Princeton hits layup to beat Akron at the buzzer).
-The 2017 Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic has had three games decided by two points or less in two rounds, equaling the 2012 Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic in three rounds.
-The second day of the 2017 Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic was the first time where all four games in the same day were settled by single digits.

DAY 1
Game 1: Middle Tennessee 69, Princeton 67
-The Ivy League is now 2-2 in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
-Conference USA is now 3-4 in Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic play.
-Middle Tennessee is the first CUSA team to win a first round game since UTEP beat Clemson 61-48 in 2011, and win a game in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic since UTEP beat Auburn 83-76 for third place in 2011.

Game 2: USC 84, Akron 53
-USC tied the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic Record for most point in the second half with 55 (Ohio, vs. DePaul, 2014)
-The Trojans started the second half on a 31-7 run over the first 10 minutes on the way to outscoring Akron 55-20.
-The 31-point differential is the second largest winning margin in Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic history. The largest was 33 points (Baylor 83, San Diego 50 in 2010).
-USC is now 4-0 in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
-Akron is now 1-3 in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
-The Pac-12 is now 14-8 in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
-The Mid-America Conference (MAC) is now 4-6 in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.

Game 3: New Mexico State 69, Davidson 68
-New Mexico State is just the second Western Athletic Conference team to play in the Hawaiian Airlines -Diamond Head Classic. The other was Hawai'i (2009-11).
-The WAC is now 6-4 in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
-The win by New Mexico State is the first WAC win since Hawai'i beat Clemson 75-68 in 2011.
-Davidson trailed by 12 points when the Wildcats went on a 20-2 run to take a seven-point lead (56-49, 8:00 2nd).
-The Aggies countered by closing the game with an 11-4 run in the last three minutes.

UP NEXT
Akron is scheduled to play Concord on Friday, December 29 at 7 p.m. at James A. Rhodes Arena.