Round Two: Zips Regular Season Finale at Kent State

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Akron Zips (16-14, 8-9) vs. Kent State (21-9, 10-7)
Friday, March 8 • M.A.C Center • Kent, Ohio • 6:30 PM • CBS Sports Network

Kent State Head Coach
Rob Senderoff (Albany '95)
Overall: 200-107 (8th season)
Record at KSU: 200-107 (8th season)
MAC Record: 77-62 (8th season)

AKRON ZIPS Head Coach
John Groce (Taylor '94)
Career Record: 210-163 (11th Season)
Record at Akron: 30-32 (2nd Season)
MAC Record at Akron: 14-21 (2nd Season)
Overall MAC Record: 48-51 (at Ohio and Akron)

All-Time Series
Kent Leads: 76-75 - Groce vs. Kent State: 2-1 (6-6 Overall)
Last Meeting: Akron 72, Kent 53 at James A. Rhodes Arena on Feb. 8, 2019
First Meeting: Akron 37, Kent 16 in Kent 1915-16 season
In Akron: 42-24, Neutral: 8-2, In Kent: 25-50

Broadcast
TV/Video: CBS Sports Network – Dave Ryan (PxP), Steve Wolf (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

Quick Hits
• A win would give Akron its first season sweep against Kent State since 2011-12 season
• A win would give Akron a full point for the Crystal Clinic Wagon Wheel Challenge
•The Zips are No. 27 in defense efficiency, and No. 109 overall team in KenPomeroy Rankings
• Akron Ranks in the NCAA Top 100 teams in 12 Categories
• The Zips are ranked 19th in the NCAA for scoring defense only allowing 63.5 points per game
• Akron is ranked 13th in 3-point FG% Defense (29.8), 17th 3-point FGs attempted (844), 19th FG% Defense (39.9), 58th 3-point FGs made (267), 61st DREB/g (26.87), 63rd TO/game (11.7), 64th 3pt/game (8.9), 78th Fewest TO (352), 82nd TO margin (1.7), 82nd Scoring Margin (+5.8) and 94th Total Rebounds (1,104).

What's Ahead
Akron will wrap-up regular season play against crosstown rival on Friday, March 8 for round two of the Crystal Clinic Wagon Wheel Challenge against Kent State at 6:30 p.m. at the M.A.C. Center.

The season finale will air on CBS Sports Network, and fans can also follow the action on Akron-Learfield/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 Akron-Kent State Series
Friday's game marks the 152nd 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 76-75 all-time series advantage.

The Zips have won 13 of the last 22 meetings, including a 72-53 win earlier this season on Feb. 8 at James A. Rhodes Arena. However, the team from the east entered 2018-19 season winning 2-of-3 contests, including a split in the 2017-18 season series (W 78-68 in Kent), (L 67-65 in Akron) and the 2017 MAC Championship game (W 70-65 in Cleveland).

Akron was the last team to earn a season series sweep, during the 2011-12 season. In fact, the Zips posted three consecutive wins that season, defeating the Flashes 84-75 at home (Jan. 21), 61-55 in Kent (March 2) and 78-74 in the semifinals of the MAC Tournament in Cleveland (March 9).

In addition, Akron won 2-of-3 games the following season (2012-13), winning on the road (71-67, Jan. 15) and falling at home (68-64, March 8) before winning its second consecutive semifinal matchup in the MAC Tournament (62-59, March 15). During that stretch, Akron won 5-of-6 games.

Akron is 42-24 against Kent State at home, posting wins in six of the last eight 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 21-9 overall record and 10-7 in MAC play. The Flashes have won four of the last seven league games since falling to Akron in early February, defeating Western Michigan (A, 82-63), Eastern Michigan (H, 71-58), Ohio (H, 78-73) and Miami (A, 75-66). The setbacks came from Central Michigan (A, 84-74), Buffalo (A, 80-57) and Bowling Green (A, 77-72). Kent State is 13-3 (6-2 MAC) at home and 8-6 (4-5 MAC) on the road.

Kent State has four players scoring in double figures, led by Jaylin Walker with 21.9 points on 38.9 percent shooting from the floor (168-of-432) and 39.3 percent from downtown with a team-best 86 made 3-point field goals (86-of-219). Walker shoots 80.8 percent from the free throw line (126-of-156) with a second-best 138 rebounds and 56 assists and 33 steals.

Antonio Williams follows with 11.7 points per game. He connects at a 49.4 percent rate from the field (128-of-259) with 15 made triples. Williams has made 108 trips to the free throw line and buried a second-best 79 bonus buckets. He leads the squad in steals (53) and is second in assists (76) and blocked shots (30).

Jalen Avery and Philip Whittington round out the double-digit scoring with 10.7 and 10.3 points per game, respectively. Avery shoots 34.8 percent from the floor and adds a second-best 59 long distance buckets for Kent State with a 33.3 percentage from deep. Avery dishes out a team-best 3.52 helpers a night (95). Whittington controls the paint for the Golden Flashes, connecting with 132-of-234 (.564) shots from close range and grabbing a team-high 241 rebounds (8.0 reb/g) with a team best 37 blocked shots.

Other notable players include CJ Williamson, Mitch Peterson and Anthony Roberts. All three players have drained double-digit 3-pointers – Williamson (28), Peterson (21) and Roberts (16).

Defensively, Kent State limits its opponents to 72.5 points per game on 45.6 percent shooting from the floor and 33.4 percent from 3-point range, allowing 7.2 long distance strikes per night. The Golden Flashes caused 419 turnovers (14.0 to/g) with 209 steals (7.0 stl/g). Kent is slightly outrebounds the opponent with a +1.3 margin as the opponent to grabs 1,036 (34.5) total boards compared to the 1,075 (35.8) total rebounds secured.

UP NEXT
With the 91-67 win over Bowling Green, Akron men's basketball team secured a first-round home game for the upcoming Mid-American Conference Men's Basketball Tournament. The MAC Tournament game is scheduled for Monday, March 11 with game time and opponent to be announced. The Akron women's basketball team will also host a first-round MAC Tournament game on Monday, March 11. The first-round MAC Tournament games will be treated as a doubleheader with the women playing at 5 p.m. and the men following at 8 p.m. Tickets are available at GoZips.com.

The University of Akron Athletics

Round Two: Zips Regular Season Finale at Kent State

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