Akron Basketball is Back in MACtion

October 14 | Men's Basketball

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AKRON, Ohio – The Akron Zips men's basketball team held its first practice of the 2020-21 season on Wednesday at James A. Rhodes Arena.

"It's great to be out there and a privilege to work with these guys," head coach John Groce said. "I like our guys, I like our talent and we have some depth. We have some guys that were able to acquire a lot of experience last year, we return some veterans and I like our newcomers. But, we have a long way to go in terms of developing the chemistry on court."

The Zips return 10 players from last year's squad that posted a 24-7 overall record en route to a regular season Mid-American Conference Championship. Headlining the returners is senior Loren Cristian Jackson (Chicago, Ill.), the reigning MAC Player of the Year.

"I think practice went really well," Jackson said. "We are getting better and better each day. We are trying to be safe and protect our team at all costs."

Other retuning members of the blue and gold include; senior Camron Reece (Oakland, Calif.), sophomore Ali Ali (Kendallville, Ind.), sophomores Greg Tribble (Cincinnati, Ohio), Mikal Dawson (Huntington, W.Va.), Scott Walter (Akron, Ohio) and Enrique Freeman (Cleveland, Ohio). This season will mark the Akron debuts of senior Maishe Dailey (Beachwood, Ohio), junior Bryan Trimble, Jr. (Kansas City, Mo.) and redshirt freshman Tre Edwards (Hamilton, Ontario), who sat out a year ago due to NCAA transfer guidelines.

Akron's newcomers include a pair of JUCO transfers in sophomores Jermaine Marshall (Birmingham, Ala.) and Taylor Currie (Clarkston, Mich.), he is joined by freshmen Garvin Clarke (Euclid, Ohio) and Aziz Bandaogo (Senegal, Africa). In addition, the Zips also have a transfer from Wake Forest in junior Michael Wynn (Albany, N.Y.), who becomes eligible to play during the 2021-22 campaign.

Securing a non-conference schedule during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has proven to be a challenge, one Groce hopes will soon be resolved with the announcement of the complete 2020-21 slate for the Zips. Get the latest news and stay up-to-date by following Zips Athletics on GoZips.com, downloading the new mobile app and following all social media outlets.