The University of Akron Athletics
University of Akron
St. Bonaventure
Zips Final Showdown at Cayman Islands Classic Against St. Bonaventure
November 21 | Men's Basketball
Game Notes (PDF) | FACEBOOK LIVE | Live Stats | Akron-IMG Sports Network | Season Tickets | Akron Basketball Schedule
CAYMAN ISLANDS CLASSIC • THIRD ROUND
Game 6 • Akron Zips (3-2) MAC vs. St. Bonaventure (1-4) A10
Wednesday, Nov. 21 • John Gray Gymnasium • Grand Cayman Island • 11 AM ET • Facebook Live
St. Bonaventure Head Coach
Mark Schmidt
Overall: 275-246 (18th season)
Record at St. Bonaventure: 193-156 (12th season)
A10 Record: 95-89 (12th season)
AKRON ZIPS Head Coach
John Groce (Taylor '94)
Career Record: 197-151 (11th Season)
Record at Akron: 17-20 (2nd Season)
MAC Record at Akron: 6-12 (2nd Season)
Overall MAC Record: 40-42 (at Ohio and Akron)
All-Time Series
Akron leads series, 1-0 - Groce vs St. Bonaventure: 0-1 - Last Meeting: Akron, 39 - St. Bonaventure 36 at St. Bonaventure, 1942-43
Broadcast
TV/Video: FACEBOOK – Noah Coslov or Doug Gottlieb (PxP), Doug Gottlieb or Tim Scarborough (Analyst) and Kristen Balboni (Sideline)
Watch on:Â Facebook.com/StadiumCollegeBasketball
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 men's basketball program continues its 118th season of non-conference hoops by playing the final game of the Cayman Islands Classic. Eight teams competed in round one and two on Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 19-20, at John Gray Gymnasium, just minutes away from world famous Seven Mile Beach.
Akron fell 72-69 to No. 19 Clemson and 73-68 to Illinois State. Georgia defeated Illinois State 80-68 and lost to Clemson 64-49. In the evening session, St. Bonaventure fell 75-65 to Georgia State and Boise State 72-52, while Creighton defeated Boise State 94-82 and Georgia State 93-68.
On Wednesday, The Zips are scheduled to play the seventh and eighth place game at 11 a.m. against St. Bonaventure, followed by the first fifth and sixth place showdown between Illinois State and Boise State at 1:30 p.m. The third and fourth place game featuring Georgia versus Georgia State is slated for 5 p.m., and the championship game between No. 19 Clemson and Creighton is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off time.
The Broadcasts
All of the Cayman Island Classic games are scheduled to air exclusively on Facebook! Fans can find direct links for the Zips broadcast by visiting GoZips.com, the ZipsMBB Facebook page or @ZipsMBB on twitter. Also, Facebook.com/StadiumCollegeBasketball will provide all of the action.
Noah Coslov or Doug Gottlieb will call the action and Doug Gottlieb or Tim Scarborough delivers analysis with Kristen Balboni reporting courtside for Stadium (watchstadium.com).
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-St. Bonaventure Series
Akron and St. Bonaventure have one time in series history, and Wednesday's game will be the first time the two teams shared the court since the 1942-43 season. The Zips won the lone meeting 39-36 at St. Bonaventure. However, Groce faced the A10 squad when coaching at Ohio, falling 112-107 in four overtime periods in 2010-11.
Scouting the Bonnies
St. Bonaventure dropped the opening round and second round games to Georgia State, 75-65, and Boise State, 72-52. The Bonnies are 1-4 on the season, defeating Jackson State 67-36 and falling to Bucknell in overtime, 88-85, and Niagra, 80-72, before arriving at the Cayman Islands Classic.Â
The Bonnies have three players averaging double figures in points. As a team, they shoot 40.5 percent from the floor and have buried 33 shots from beyond the 3-point arc. St. Bonaventure is 33-of-101 from long distance for a 32.7 shooting percentage.
Jalen Poyser is leading the team in scoring, averaging 20.4 ppg on 44.6 percent shooting from the field. He also leads the team's efforts from beyond the 3-point arc with 14 made triples in 35 attempts for a 40.0 percent showing from deep. Kyle Lofton follows with 14.8 points per game on 46.2 percent shooting from the floor. He has dished out a team-high 17 assists with seven steals. Both, Poyser (22) and Lofton (20) had 20 or more points against Boise State.
Defensively, St. Bonaventure allows its opponents score 70.2 points per game on 43.3 percent shooting from the field and 34.5 percent from downtown with 8.0 made 3-pt FGs per game. The Bonnies hasve caused 82 turnovers (16.4 tpg) while collecting 31 steals (6.2 stl/g) and 20 blocked shots (4.0 blk/g). On the glass, the Bonnies are outrebounded by the opponents by a -4.2 margin, 177-156.
Jackson Drops 25 Points on No. 19 Clemson
Sophomore Loren Cristian Jackson (Chicago, Ill.) opened the Cayman Islands Classic with a career-high 25-point performance against No. 19 Clemson. Jackson shot 7-of-17 from the floor (.412), including a 5-of-12 performance from deep (.417). He made eight trips to the free throw line and buried six charity buckets. In addition, Jackson had four rebounds and three assists.
Like Money in the Bank
Junior college transfer Channel Banks (Las Vegas, Nev.) has scored in double digits 2-of-3 games this season and is currently third on the team in scoring with 13.3 points per game. He is shooting a team-best 64.3 percent (9-of-14) from long distance. Those nine made 3-point field goals ranks as the team leader as Dan Utomi and Loren Cristian Jackson follow with seven 3-pointers each. Â
Banks buried 4-of-6 attempts from beyond the 3-point arc in Akron's season/home opener against Cedarville, went 2-of-4 against YSU, and 3-of-4. He led the squad in scoring with 15 points (Cedarville) and 17 points (Chicago State).
