MAC Quarterfinals: No. 8 Seeded Akron vs. Top-Seeded and No. 18 Ranked Buffalo

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#8 Akron Zips (17-15, 8-10) vs. #1 No. 18 Buffalo (28-3, 16-2)
Thursday, March 14 • Quicken Loans Arena • Cleveland, Ohio • 8 PM • ESPN+

Buffalo Head Coach
Nate Oats (Maranatha Baptist '98)
Overall Record: 92-42 (4th Season)
Record at UB: 92-42 (4th Season)
MAC Record: 51-20 (4th Season)

AKRON ZIPS Head Coach
John Groce (Taylor '94)
Career Record: 211-163 (11th Season)
Record at Akron: 31-32 (2nd Season)
MAC Record at Akron: 14-21 (2nd Season)
Overall MAC Record: 48-51 (at Ohio and Akron)

All-Time Series
Akron Leads: 34-29 - Groce vs. Buffalo: 0-4 (5-8 Overall)
Last Meeting: Buffalo 77, Akron 64 at Alumni Arena on Feb. 26, 2019
First Meeting: Akron 84, Buffalo 74 in Akron 1954-55 season
MAC Tournament: Buffalo Leads: 2-1

Broadcast
TV/Video: ESPN+ – Michael Reghi (PxP), Tony White (Analyst)
Live Stats: GoZips.com/Schedule - Live Stats
Radio: Akron-Learfield/IMG Sports Network - Steve French (PxP), Joe Dunn (Analyst) WARF 1350 AM (flagship), iHeart Radio, TuneIn.com/Akron Zips

What's Ahead
For the 15^th consecutive season, the Akron Zips won at least one game in the Mid-American Conference Tournament by defeating Miami 80-51 on Monday. Akron advances to the quarterfinal round to face the top-seeded No. 18 ranked Buffalo Bulls on Thursday, March 14 at Noon. The Zips own an all-time 10-3 record in the quarterfinal round and have a 24-12 record at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Akron is 30-18 in its 22-year MAC Tournament history and 1-2 overall against Buffalo.

Quick Hits
• A win would give Akron its first win over a Division I Top 25 opponent in school history
• Akron has advanced to the semifinal round in 12 of the last 13 seasons
•The Zips are No. 22 in defense efficiency, and No. 98 overall team in Ken Pomeroy Rankings
• Akron Ranks in the NCAA Top 100 teams in 12 Categories
• The Zips are ranked 17th in the NCAA for scoring defense only allowing 63.3 points per game
• Akron is ranked 9th in 3-point FG% Defense (29.3), 10th 3-point FGs attempted (906), 14th FG% Defense (39.4), 44th 3-point FGs made (293), 55th 3pt/game (9.2), 59th DREB/g (26.91), 64th TO/game (11.8), 85th Fewest TO (376), 73rd Scoring Margin (+6.3), 77th Total Rebounds (1,169) and 86th TO margin (1.6).

The Akron-Buffalo Series
Thursday's game marks the 64th meeting in series history between Akron and Buffalo, and 14th meeting for a Groce coached squad, fifth at Akron. Akron holds an all-time 34-29 series advantage while Groce is 5-8 overall and 0-4 at Akron. In three of those four setbacks, the Zips led at halftime and took a one possession game to the final minutes. The Zips and the Bulls have met three time in postseason play with Buffalo holding a 2-1 edge.

The No. 21/22 ranked Bulls defeated the Zips at Alumni Arena (77-64) and started the series sweep when the No. 24/25 ranked Bulls defeated Akron at James A. Rhodes Arena 76-70 on Feb. 12. The Bulls swept last season's series with an 87-65 win in Akron and an 80-68 win in Buffalo. The Zips swept the regular season series in 2015-16 and 2016-17 and have won four of the last nine meetings.

Akron fell 64-61 to the Bulls in the 2016 MAC Championship game at Quicken Loans Arena. In 2014-15, the Bulls won 68-59 on March 19 in the semifinal game of the MAC Tournament at Quicken Loans Arena. Akron's win in the MAC Tournament came in the 2008-09 season when the Zips defeated the Bulls for the MAC Title, 65-53.

Scouting the Bulls
Buffalo enters the contest after remaining in the Top 25 for 20-straight weeks which is the longest stretch in the history of the MAC. The Bulls are 28-3 overall and 12-2 in the MAC with an unblemished 14-0 record at home. On the road, Buffalo is 12-3, dropping games to Marquette (103-85), Northern Illinois (77-75) and Bowling Green (92-88). The Bulls are 2-0 in neutral site competition this season.

Three players are currently averaging double figures for the Bulls, led by MAC Player of the Year C.J. Massinburg with 18.5 points per outing. He is shooting 48.2 percent from the floor (176-of-365), and 41.5 percent from long range with 81 made 3-point field goals (81-of-195). Massinburg also leads the squad at the free throw line (123-of-157, .783). He is second in steals (39) and third on the glass (191 rebs, 6.4 rebs/g) and fourth in assists (94).

Sixth Man of the Year Nick Perkins follows with 14.9 points per game. He makes 46.4 percent of his shots (160-of-345) with 42 made 3-pointers (42-of-112, .375). He is the top rebounder (227), pulling down 7.3 per game and leads the squad with 28 blocked shots.

Jeremy Harris rounds out the double-digit scoring with 13.2 points per game. Harris is second from deep, draining 51 triples at a 26.3 rate (194 attempts). He shoots 40.2 percent from the floor (155-of-386). He is second in rebounding (190 rebs, 6.1 rebs/g) and assists (91) and fourth in steals (35).

The Bulls also have two players that nearly average 10 points per a game, in Jayvon Graves (9.5 ppg) and Defensive Player of the Year Dontay Caruthers (8.8 ppg). Graves connects 46.2 percent (108-of-234) while Caruthers drains 56.4 percent of his shots (93-of-165). Graves buried 46 triples at a 37.4 percent rate (123 attempts) and Caruthers hit 14 3-pointers at a 40.0 percentage (35 attempts). Caruthers is third in assists (92) and steals (38), while Graves has 57 helpers, 27 blocked shots and 26 steals.

Defensively, Buffalo allows opponents to score 70.9 points a night on 42.2 percent shooting from the floor and 30.5 percent from 3-point range, allowing 6.7 long distance strikes per night. The Bulls caused 496 turnovers (16.0 to/g) with 231 steals (7.5 stl/g). Buffalo outrebounds the opponent by a +3.6 margin as the opponent to grabbed 1,148 (37.0) total boards compared to the 1,261 (40.7) total rebounds.

Akron and the MAC Tournament
Akron is 30-18 all-time in the MAC Tournament, 23-7 in its last 30 tournament games. The Zips have won at least one game in the MAC Tournament every year since the 2004-05 season and has advanced to the MAC Tournament title game in nine consecutive seasons with an unprecedented 12-of-13 semifinal appearances. The Zips' runs of the consecutive title game (9) and semifinal appearances (12) are the longest streaks in MAC history. The Zips are 24-12 at Quicken Loans Arena. Akron is 7-6 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 are ranked in the Top 30 in defense efficiency, according to the Ken Pomeroy rankings. The Zips are 22nd overall and rank KenPom's Top 100 teams, ranking 98th overall. Akron has limited opponents to scoring 60 points or less in 11 games, including five games of 50 points or under. The Zips allow only 63.3 points per game which ranks No. 17 in the NCAA for scoring defense and No. 1 in the MAC. Akron limits opponents to 39.4 shooting from the floor (14th, 1st MAC) and 29.3 from long distance (9th, 1st MAC). Akron has caused 428 turnovers (13.4 t/g) with 184 steals (5.8 stl/g). Jimond Ivey leads the team in takeaways with 41 steals, Tyler Cheese is second (35), Channel Banks (31), Loren Cristian Jackson (30), Daniel Utomi (18). In addition, players are sacrificing their bodies by taking charges as Jackson has taken 23, Cheese 22 and Channel Banks 15.

UP NEXT
The Akron men's basketball team looks to advance to the semifinal round of the MAC Tournament at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio for the 13th time in 14 years. If the Zips are to advance, they will play either No. 4 seeded Kent State or No. 5 seeded Central Michigan on Friday, March 15 at 6:30 p.m.

MAC Quarterfinals: No. 8 Seeded Akron vs. Top-Seeded and No. 18 Ranked Buffalo

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Players Mentioned

Channel Banks

Tyler Cheese

Jimond Ivey

Loren Cristian Jackson

Daniel Utomi

The University of Akron Athletics