Akron Hosts Kent State for Crystal Clinic Wagon Wheel Rivalry Part 1, Friday 9 p.m.

Friday, February 8

Akron, OH

9:00 pm

University of Akron

Kent State

Tickets

Akron Hosts Kent State for Crystal Clinic Wagon Wheel Rivalry Part 1, Friday 9 p.m.

February 07 | Men's Basketball

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Crystal Clinic Wagon Wheel Challenge
Akron Zips (13-9 5-4 MAC) vs. Kent State (17-5, 6-3 MAC)
Friday, Feb. 8 • James A. Rhodes Arena • Akron, Ohio • 9 PM • ESPNU

Kent State Head Coach
Rob Senderoff (Wisconsin '94)
Overall: 156-103 (8th season)
Record at KSU: 156-103 (8th season)
MAC Record: 73-58 (8th season)

AKRON ZIPS Head Coach
John Groce (Taylor '94)
Career Record: 207-158 (11th Season)
Record at Akron: 27-27 (2nd Season)
MAC Record at Akron: 11-16 (2nd Season)
Overall MAC Record: 45-46 (at Ohio and Akron)

All-Time Series
Kent Leads: 76-74 - Groce vs. Kent State: 1-1 (5-6 Overall)
Last Meeting: Akron 67, Kent 65 at James A. Rhodes Arena on March 2, 2018
First Meeting: Akron 37, Kent 16 in Kent 1915-16 season
In Akron:41-24, Neutral: 8-2, In Kent: 25-50

Broadcast
TV/Video: ESPNU – Robert Lee (PxP), Rob Kennedy (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 give Akron 0.5 points the Crystal Clinic Wagon Wheel Challenge
• Akron Ranks in the NCAA Top 75 in 10 Categories
• The Zips are ranked 14th in the NCAA for scoring defense only allowing 62.4 points per game
• Akron is ranked 21st in 3-point FGs attempted (633), 38th in fewest TO (250), 40th in TO/game (11.4), 41st in FG% Defense (40.6), 48th in 3-point FG% Defense (31.1), 58th in TO margin (2.5), 66th in 3pt/game (9.0), 68th in scoring margin (+7.6), 75th in 3-point FGs made (198) and 106th in Fewest Fouls per game (381)

What's Ahead
Akron will host the first installment of the crosstown grudge match against Kent State. The Crystal Clinic Wagon Wheel Challenge showdown was moved to Friday, Feb. 8 at James A. Rhodes Arena and features a 9 p.m. tip-off time to be aired on ESPNU.

The Akron-Kent State Series
Friday's game marks the 151st meeting in series history between Akron and Kent State. The first meeting was during the 1915-16 season at Kent State where Akron pulled out the win, 37-16. Kent State owns a 76-74 all-time series advantage. The Zips have won 12 of the last 21 meetings, but the team from the east won the last 2-of-3 contests, including a split in last season's series (W 78-68 in Kent) (L 67-65 in Akron) and the 2017 MAC Championship game (W 70-65 in Cleveland).

Akron is 41-24 against Kent State at home, posting wins in five of the last seven games at the JAR. Akron is 25-50 all-time at the M.A.C. Center and 8-2 at neutral sites against the Golden Flashes. In 2016-17, Kent State snapped Akron's 30-game home-court winning streak at the JAR. The longest winning streak in the series for Akron is 9-games from 1941-1947 and Kent State's longest winning streak in the series is 5-games, and it happened twice, 1991-1994, and 1980-1985.

Akron and Kent State have met in the MAC Tournament eight times. Akron is 5-3 in the MAC Tournament against the Golden Flashes. In addition, Akron and Kent State have played for the MAC Tournament championship three times. Kent State leads 2-1 in MAC title games. Kent State won the tournament in 2007-08 (74-55), Akron won the title in 2010-11 in overtime (66-65), and Kent State won the tournament in 2016-17 (70-65).

Scouting the Golden Flashes
Kent State enters the 100-plus year-old rivalry with a 17-5 overall record and 6-3 in MAC play. The Flashes have won five of the last six league games, defeating Ohio 66-52, Northern Illinois 78-68, Toledo (ot) 87-85, Ball State (ot) and Miami 70-67. The lone loss came from Buffalo 79-88. Kent State is 11-3 (4-2 MAC) at home and 6-2 (2-1 MAC) on the road.

Kent State has three players scoring in double figures, led by Jaylin Walker with 23.2 points on 41.8 percent shooting from the floor (120-of-287) and 44.3 percent from downtown with a team-best 66 made 3-point field goals (66-of-149). Walker shoots 84.6 percent from the free throw line (88-of-104) with 91 rebounds and 41 assists and 26 steals.

Jalen Avery follows with 12.0 points per game on 35.9 percent shooting from the floor. He adds a second-best 52 long distance buckets for Kent State with a 34.2 percentage from deep. Avery dishes out a team-best 3.86 helpers a night (85).

Antonio Williams follows with 10.8 points per game. He connects at a 48.9 percent rate from the field (85-of-174) with 11 made triples. Williams has made 81 trips to the free throw line and buried a second-best 56 bonus buckets. He leads the squad in steals, swiping 43 loose balls.

Philip Whittington who is just shy of double digits with 9.8 points per game. He controls the paint for the Golden Flashes, connecting with 53-of-142 shots from close range and grabbing a team-high 172 rebounds (7.8 reb/g).

Other notable players include CJ Williamson, Mitch Peterson and Anthony Roberts. All three players have drained double-digit 3-pointers – Williamson (23), Peterson (15) and Roberts (11).

Defensively, Kent State limits its opponents to 72.9 points per game on 45.1 percent shooting from the floor and 34.3 percent from 3-point range, allowing 7.5 long distance strikes per night. The Golden Flashes caused 316 turnovers (14.4 to/g) with 157 steals (7.1 stl/g). Kent is slightly outrebounded by the opponent with a -0.2 margin as the opponent to grabs 777 (35.3) total boards compared to the 772 (35.1) total rebounds secured.

Defending the JAR
Akron is 10-1 at home this season and 4-0 in league play. The Zips only allow opponents to score 57.09 points per game at home, and only 57.25 in the four league games. Akron has allowed 628 total points in 11 games and 229 points in the four MAC games. Akron's only loss at home was by one point to Marshall (75-74). The Herd is the only team to score more than 67 points at Rhodes Arena this season. In fact, Akron has held eight teams to 60 points or less, including four teams to 50 or less.

Marshall (75), Central Michigan (67), Northern Illinois (65), Tennessee St. (60), Detroit Mercy (59), Carnegie Mellon (55), Alabama St. (54), Cedarville (50), Western Michigan (48), Eastern Michigan (49), Chicago St. (46)

Zips in the MAC
The Zips have posted a 50-28 mark (.641) in the last 78 games against the MAC East dating back to the start of the 2012 league schedule. Akron is 5-3 against the MAC East at the conference tournament during that stretch. Akron is 104-51 in the regular season against the West Division (.671), including winners of 47 of the last 62 regular-season games since divisional play began during the 1997-98 season.

Akron is 58-13 at home in league play since the start of the 2011 MAC schedule (.817). UA has seen a ton of success in league play since the start of the 2004-05 season, and is 166-81 overall (.672), including a 103-20 mark in MAC play at home (.837). The Zips' 166 wins are the most in the league during that stretch. The Zips have won 86 of their last 123 MAC games (.699).

Akron is 29-18 all-time in the MAC Tournament, going 22-7 in its last 29 tournament games. The Zips have won at least one game in the MAC Tournament every year since the 2004-05 season and have made nine MAC Tournament title game appearances in the last 11-of-12 seasons with an unprecedented 12-of-13 semifinal appearances. The Zips' runs of the consecutive title game (11) and semifinal appearances (12) are the longest streaks in MAC history. The Zips are 24-12 at Quicken Loans Arena. Akron is 6-6 in opening round games, 1-0 second round, 10-3 in the quarterfinals, 9-3 semifinals, and 3-6 in title games.

Strong Defensive Stance
The Akron Zips have limited opponents to scoring 60 points or less in eight games, including five games of 50 points or under. The Zips allow only 62.4 points per game which ranks No. 14 in the NCAA for scoring defense and first in the MAC. Akron limits opponents to 40.6 shooting from the floor (41st) and 31.1 from long distance (48th). Akron has caused 306 turnovers (13.9 t/g) with 120 steals (5.5 stl/g). Jimond Ivey leads the team in takeaways with 28 steals, Loren Cristian Jackson is second (24), Tyler Cheese (21), Channel Banks (15), Daniel Utomi (13). In addition, players are sacrificing their bodies by taking charges as Jackson has taken 20, Cheese 18 and Channel Banks 11.

Fight to the Finish
The Akron Zips are currently 13-9 overall and 5-4 in MAC play, picking up 10 wins at home, one on the road and two wins on a neutral floor. Akron won all 13 games by a +17.7 margin and currently rank 68th in the NCAA and fifth in the MAC with a +7.6 scoring margin. Taking it a step further, in six of Akron's setbacks, the Zips only lost by a combined total of 20 points, falling by six points or less in each contest. Akron fell 72-69 to No. 16 Clemson, 73-68 to Illinois State, 68-65 to Purdue Fort Wayne, 75-74 to Marshall, 68-62 to No. 6 ranked Nevada and 88-86 to Central Michigan. Zips fell 73-56 @NIU and 68-61 @ Miami. Akron limits opponents to 57.1 points at James A. Rhodes Arena.

Another 1,000 Point Scorer?
As Jimond Ivey entered the 1,000 point club, teammate Daniel Utomi is close to becoming the 45th member. Utomi is leading the Zips' scoring efforts with 13.9 points per game and 306 points scored this season and is 16 points shy of the 1,000 mark. 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 984 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 (171), 77th (2nd MAC) in 3-point FG per game (2.77), 76th (3rd MAC) overall in 3-point FG made (61) and 112th (6th MAC) in 3-point FG percentage (35.7).

Ivey Passes 1,000 Career Points
Senior guard Jimond Ivey reached the 1,000-point career milestone against Tennessee State with an old-fashioned 3-point play. He became the 44th member of the Zips' 1,000 point club after scoring 19 points to finish with 1,013 points in 111 games. In 2018-19, Ivey has scored 296 points, averaging 13.5 points per game as Akron's second leading scorer. Over his four-year playing career at Akron, Ivey averages 9.5 points per game. He appeared in 122 total games with 82 starting appearances and 1,164 total points. Last season, Ivey set Akron's single-game scoring record with a 48-point performance on the road at Ball State (1/27/18).

Raising the Bar
Loren Cristian Jackson didn't show any signs of rust as the sophomore transfer from Long Beach State has scored double-digits in 15-of-22 games, including six straight games. He notched a career-high 26 and four 20-plus point performances, Marshall (26), Clemson (25), Tennessee State (23) and Northern Illinois (22). He continues to raise the bar, setting and resetting career-highs in points. He set a new personal best by scoring 25 points against No. 16 Clemson and broke his personal record against Marshall with 26 points on a career-high 9-of-18 (.500) shooting from the floor with an exceptional 5-of-8 (.625) showing from downtown. He scored double figures in 8-of-the-last-9 games 22 points (NIU), 13 points (Miami), 12 points four times (WMU, CMU, @CMU, Ohio), 11 points (Toledo), 10 points (EMU).

Pass the Cheese Tre
Junior Tyler Cheese had a career game against Central Michigan with 20 points and 12 rebounds. It was his first career double-double. Cheese has scored in double figures in nine games CMU (20), Alabama State and Toledo (19), @Miami (17), @CMU (16), Marshall (14), vs.Youngstown State (13), vs.Clemson (13) and Carnegie Mellon (12). Cheese currently ranks fourth in team scoring (10.1 ppg) with 58 assists and 21 steals.

Like Money in the Bank
Junior college transfer Channel Banks has scored in double digits six times this season and is currently fifth on the team in scoring with 7.7 points per game. He is shooting a second-best 34.8 percent (32-of-92) from long distance. Those 32 made 3-point field goals ranks third on the team as Dan Utomi (61) and Loren Cristian Jackson (44) lead the way. Banks led the squad in scoring with 15 points (Cedarville) and 17 points (Chicago State), while adding 10-point performances against Alabama State and Detroit Mercy. The last time he scored double figures was against No. 6 Nevada (11) and Carnegie Mellon (13).

From Down Under
Junior transfer Deng Riak missed three games with a shoulder injury, but is back and leading the Zips defensive efforts. The defensive floor general leads the team lead in blocked shots (17). He is third on the team in rebounds, averaging 5.7 boards per game (109), sixth in scoring with 5.3 points per contest and has nine assists and six steals. Riak scored 100 points on 39.8 percent shooting from the field. He is 4-of-15 from deep.

UP NEXT
Akron will host the No. 23 ranked Buffalo on Tuesday, Feb. 12 at James A. Rhodes Arena. Fans can also follow the action on Akron-IMG Sports Radio Network 1350 AM (WARF) in Akron (flagship) with Steve French calling the action and Joe Dunn providing analysis. The free audio stream is available at SportsRadio1350.com, iHeart Radio, and TuneIn.com/Akron Zips.