Akron's Final East/West Crossover Game in Muncie on Saturday

Saturday, February 16

Muncie, IN

2:00 pm

University of Akron

Ball State

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Akron's Final East/West Crossover Game in Muncie on Saturday

February 15 | Men's Basketball

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Akron Zips (14-10 6-5) vs. Ball State (13-11, 4-7)
Saturday, Feb. 16 • Worthen Arena • Muncie, Ind. • 2 PM

Ball State Head Coach
James Whitford (Wisconsin '94)
Overall: 86-99 (6th season)
Record at BSU: 86-99 (6th season)
MAC Record: 39-62 (6th season)

AKRON ZIPS Head Coach
John Groce (Taylor '94)
Career Record: 208-159 (11th Season)
Record at Akron: 28-28 (2nd Season)
MAC Record at Akron: 12-17 (2nd Season)
Overall MAC Record: 46-47 (at Ohio and Akron)

All-Time Series
Akron Leads: 23-17 - Groce vs. Ball State: 0-2 (3-5 Overall)
Last Meeting: Ball State 90, Akron 77 at James A. Rhodes Arena on Feb. 13, 2018
First Meeting: Ball State 39, Akron 38 in Akron 1937-38 season
The Zips in Akron 13-6, at Neutral Site 2-0, in Muncie 8-11

Broadcast
TV/Video: ESPN3 – Joel Godett (PxP), David Eha (Analyst)
Live Stats: GoZips.com/Schedule - Live Stats
Radio: Akron-IMG Sports Network - Steve French (PxP), Joe Dunn (Analyst) WARF 1350 AM (flagship), iHeart Radio, TuneIn.com/Akron Zips

Quick Hits
• A win would snap the Cardinals two-game winning streak over the Zips
• Akron Ranks in the NCAA Top 68 teams in 10 Categories
• The Zips are ranked 14th in the NCAA for scoring defense only allowing 62.5 points per game
• Akron is ranked 19th in 3-point FGs attempted (684), 27th in 3-point FG% Defense (30.3), 36th in FG% Defense (40.5), 47th in TO/game (11.5), 51st in fewest TO (277), 57th in TO margin (2.5), 60th in 3pt/game (9.0), 65th in scoring margin (+7.5), 68th in 3-point FGs made (216) and 111th in three categories DREB/g (26.1), Fewest Fouls (413) and Personal Fouls/g (17.2)

What's Ahead
Akron looks to snap Ball State's two-game winning streak on Saturday, Feb. 16 at 2 p.m. at Worthen Arena. Akron is 1-4 on the road in League games. The game is scheduled to be aired on ESPN3 and Akron-IMG Sports Radio Network 1350 AM (WARF) in Akron (flagship). The free audio stream is available at SportsRadio1350.com, iHeart Radio, and TuneIn.com/Akron Zips.

The Broadcasts
The Zips' game is scheduled to air on ESPN3 as Joel Godett will call the action and David Eha provides 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-Ball State Series
Saturday's game marks the 41st meeting in series history between Akron and Ball State, and ninth meeting for a Groce coached squad, third at Akron. Akron holds a 23-17 all-time series advantage while Groce is 3-5 against the Cardinals and 0-2 at Akron. Akron is 13-6 all-time against BSU at home, 8-11 at BSU and 2-0 in neutral site games. Akron is 1-1 all-time versus Ball State in the MAC Tournament.

The Cardinals swept the season series in 2017-18 and snapped Akron's 15-game winning streak against Ball State in a double overtime thriller in Muncie, Ind. (111-106). Jimond Ivey broke Worthen Arena's all-time scoring mark of 41 points previously held by Bonzi Wells (Ball State, 1996) and Earl Boykins (Eastern Michigan, 1998). Ivey's nine 3-pointers set an arena record and he tied the arena record for made field goals (15) set in 1992 by Xavier's Brian Grant. In addition, the 217 combined points are the most in Worthen Arena history, while Akron's 106 points are the most ever by a visiting team and the most ever by the losing team in that arena.

In 2016-17, Akron claimed both games. Isaiah Johnson lifted Akron to a 65-63 win in dramatic fashion with a buzzer-beating jumper at James A. Rhodes Arena (Feb. 7, 2017). A few weeks later, the two teams met in the semifinal game of the MAC Tournament as the No. 1 seeded Zips defeated the No. 4 Cardinals 74-70 at Quicken Loans Arena (March 8, 2017).

Ball State's previous win against Akron came in the 2003-04 season when the Cardinals defeated the Zips 76-72 in the first round of the MAC Tournament at Worthen Arena. Ball State also won the regular season matchup that season 77-71 in overtime.

Scouting the Cardinals
Ball State enters the first of two meetings of the season with a 13-11 overall record and 4-7 in MAC play. The Cardinals are coming off a bye week and currently on a two-game winning streak, defeating Northern Illinois (72-71) on the road and Western Michigan (79-59) in Muncie. Ball State is 6-4 at home (1-4 MAC), 6-5 on the road (3-3 MAC) and 1-2 in neutral site games.

Ball State has three players scoring in double figures led by Tayler Parsons with 17.0 points on 44.9 percent shooting from the floor (141-of-314) and 37.3 percent from downtown with 38 made 3-point FG (38-of-108). Parsons shoots 79.8 percent from the free throw line 87-of-109) and leads the squad in assists with 4.5 helpers per game (109 ast), while adding 4.0 rebounds (95).

K.J. Walton and Tahjai Teague follow, contributing 14.3 and 14.2 points per game, respectively.
Walton shoots 54.5 percent from the field, while Teague boasts a team-high 59.1 shooting percentage. Both players score at the rim, while Teague has connected with nine triples.Teague also leads the squad on the glass (7.9 reb/g, 190 rebs) and in steals (35), while posting a second-best mark in blocked shots (25).

Trey Moses leads the Cardinals in blocked shots (29) and pulls down a second-best 7.0 rebounds per game (161 rebs) with 53 assists and 19 steals and averages 9.0 points per game. Kyle Mallers connects with 39.5 percent of his shots from the field (60-of-152) and adds a 33.0 percentage from beyond the 3-point arc with 37 made triples. In addition, Brechan Hazen is back after a 16 game lay-off due to a back injury. He scored 22 points to lift Ball Sate over Western Michigan.

Defensively, Ball State allows opponents to score 73.4 points a night on 41.7 percent shooting from the floor and 32.1 percent from 3-point range, allowing 7.3 long distance strikes per night. The Cardinals caused 303 turnovers (12.6 to/g) with 151 steals (6.3 stl/g). BSU outrebounds the opponent by a +5.8 margin as the opponent to grabs 832 (34.7) total boards compared to the 918 (38.2) total rebounds.

Utomi Scores 1,000 Points
Daniel Utomi became the second Zips of the season to eclipse the 1,000 career point mark. He entered the club as the 45th member on Tuesday, Feb. 12 against Buffalo. He scored 14 points to go along with five rebounds, three assists, two blocks and a steal. In 88 games, Utomi scored 1,012 points. Utomi is leading the Zips' scoring efforts with 13.9 points per game. The Junior wing led last year's squad with 16.7 points per game and 535 total points. As a freshman he notched 143 points for a 998 career total. In addition, Utomi is ranked in the NCAA's Top 100 players in three categories. He is 47th (1st MAC) overall in 3-point FG attempts (184), , 55th (1st MAC) overall in 3-point FG made (69), 58th (2nd MAC) in 3-point FG per game (2.88) and 104th (7th MAC) in 3-point FG percentage (37.5).

UP NEXT
Akron will travel to Bowling Green on Tuesday, Feb. 19 to battle one of the MAC East leaders at 7 p.m. at the Stroh Center. Fans can also follow the action on ESPN3, Akron-IMG Sports Radio Network 1350 AM (WARF) in Akron (flagship). The free audio stream is available at SportsRadio1350.com, iHeart Radio, and TuneIn.com/Akron Zips.

ZIPS LIVE
Zips LIVE, presented by Lee Hyder and Associates, is Akron's radio show airing live from the Spaghetti Warehouse (510 South Main Street) with men's basketball head coach John Groce and women's basketball head coach Melissa Jackson and host Bill Morgan. The weekly hour-long radio show covering Zips Athletics airs locally on Akron-IMG Sports Network flagship Fox Sports Radio 1350 AM (WARF). Podcasts are available on GoZips.com and iHeart Radio.

Zips Basketball Weekly with... John Groce
Zips Basketball Weekly with John Groce presented by Wentz Financial Group is Akron's weekly television show, airing Tuesday nights at 7 PM on SportsTime Ohio with head coach John Groce and host Joe Dunn. Watch replays on www.GoZips.com.