Third Game of the Week, Akron Travels to Western Michigan

GAME PREVIEW: Akron vs Western Michigan, Saturday, Jan. 23 at 5 PM | Read Fieldhouse/University Arena | ESPN+

Follow Akron Basketball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram | Follow Coach Groce on Twitter

Game Notes PDF | ESPN+ | Live Stats | TuneIn - Akron-IMG Sports Network | Akron Basketball Schedule

Akron Zips (7-3, 5-2 MAC) vs. Western Michigan (2-8, 1-4 MAC)
Saturday, Jan. 23 • Read Fieldhouse/University Arena • Akron, Ohio • 5 PM ET

Western Michigan Head Coach
Clayton Bates (Florida, 1995)
Overall Record: 2-8 (1st Season)
Record at WMU: 2-8 (1stSeason)
MAC Record: 1-4 (1st Season)

AKRON ZIPS Head Coach
John Groce (Taylor '94)
Career Record: 242-175 (13th Season)
Record at Akron: 62-44 (4th Season)
MAC Record at Akron: 33-28 (4th Season)
Overall MAC Record: 67-58 (at Ohio and Akron)

All-Time Series
Akron Leads: 34-20 (7-2 MAC Tournament) - Groce vs. Western Michigan: 4-1 (7-3 Overall)
Last Meeting: Akron 71, Western Michigan,67 in Kalamazoo, Mich. on February 18, 2020
First Meeting: Akron 79, Western Michigan 74 March 5, 1988 in Kalamazoo, Mich.
In Akron:18-7, Neutral: 5-2, In Kalamazoo: 11-11
Broadcast
TV: ESPN+ - Conor Clingen (PxP) and Wayne Hinton (Analyst)
Radio: Akron Sports Network - Dave Skoczen (PxP), Joe Dunn (Analyst) WHLO 640 AM (flagship), iHeart Radio, TuneIn.com/Akron Zips
Live Stats: GoZips.com/Schedule - Live Stats

What's Ahead
The University of Akron men's basketball team continues Mid-American Conference three-game stretch with a three-game winning streak this week after defeating Bowling Green 69-57 on Tuesday evening, and Central Michigan on Thursday, 81-67. On Saturday, the Zips will play Western Michigan in Kalamazoo at 5 p.m. at Read Fieldhouse/University Arena.

The Zips' radio broadcast will air on the Akron-IMG Sports Network WHLO 640 AM with Dave Skoczen and Joe Dunn calling the action. The pregame show starts 30 minutes prior to the contest. The free audio stream is available at iHeart Radio and TuneIn.com/Akron Zips. Fans can also follow the action on GoZips.com via Live Stats.

The Akron-Western Michigan Series
Saturday's game marks the 55th meeting in series history between Akron and Western Michigan with the Zips owning a 34-20 all-time series advantage. In addition, the Zips and the Broncos have met nine times in postseason history as Akron holds a 7-2 edge.

Head coach John Groce is 7-3 all-time against the Broncos and 4-1 at Akron. Akron has won 10 of the last 11 meetings and 22 of the last 26 games of the series. The Zips won the season series in 2019-20 with an, 84-69 at Rhodes Arena and 71-67 in Kalamazoo. Akron won the lone game in 2018-19 season 56-48 at the JAR to open MAC play.

In 2017-18, the two teams split the series (1-1) as the Broncos defeated Akron in the MAC opener 87-75 in Kalamazoo, ending the Zips five-year, six-game winning streak – Western Michigan's pervious win came during the 2014 MAC Tournament semifinals on March 14. WMU needed overtime to advance to the title game, defeating Akron 64-60 at Quicken Loans Arena. In the second meeting of 2017-18, Akron pulled-off an improbable come-from-behind victory to advance in the 2018 MAC Tournament. In the first round of the MAC Tournament at University Arena, the No. 11 seeded Zips earned a 79-78 win over No. 6 seeded Broncos after trailing by 19 points. In 2016-17, Akron swept the season series, winning game one 66-59 at James A. Rhodes Arena and followed with a 90-80 win in Kalamazoo, Mich. In the 2015-16 season's lone meeting, Akron posted a 62-53 win over the Broncos at Rhodes Arena.

Akron is 7-2 in the MAC Tournament against WMU and 5-2 on a neutral court. In addition, the Zips are 10-11 in Kalamazoo, winning six of the last eight meetings at University Arena. In 2002, Akron opened the MAC Tournament in Kalamazoo and advanced to Cleveland after a 90-83 win as the 11th seed. The Zips are 2-0 in the MAC Tournament at University Arena and 6-6 all-time in opening round games.

Scouting the Broncos
Western Michigan owns a 2-8 overall record with a 1-4 league mark, standing 2-5 at home and 0-3 on the road this season.

WMU averages 63.1 points per game on 43.2 percent shooting from the floor and 32.1 percent effort from beyond the 3-point arc, draining 6.1 triples a game. In addition, the Broncos shoot 64.4 percent from the free throw line with 9.6 per game.

WMU has one player scoring in double figures as Artis White scores 14.8 points per game. White leads the team assists (29) and steals (8) while shooting 45.3 percent from the field and 38.6 percent from beyond the 3-point arc with a team-best 22 triples. The Broncos have four additional players that score eight points or more per night. Titus White averages 9.9 points per game and is the team's second-best rebounder with 5.7 boards per game (57 Rebs), while Greg Lee pulls down a team-high 7.4 rebounds per game (74 Rebs) and adds 9.7 points per night. Patrick Emilien and Rafael Cruz, Jr. contribute 8.7 and 8.1, respectively.

Defensively, WMU allows its opponents to score 69.7 points per game on 42.6 percent shooting from the floor and 30.8 percent from 3-point range, allowing 7.2 long distance strikes per night. The Broncos caused 110 turnovers (11.0 to/g) with 41 steals (4.1 stl/g). Western Michigan is outrebounded by the opponent by a -1.2 margin as the opponent grabbed 356 total boards (35.6 rebs/g) compared to the 344 total rebounds (34.4 rebs/g) secured.

Akron in the MAC
Akron opened 2020-21 MAC play with a 90-70 win over Ohio and followed with a 66-62 win over rival Kent State, before falling to Eastern Michigan, 71-59, and Northern Illinois, 67-65. Akron bounced by knocking off the top-ranked Toledo Rockets in overtime, 95-94, Bowling Green Falcons for their first road win, 69-57 and the Central Michigan Chippewas, 81-67. The Zips are 5-2 in the MAC under the new conference format without divisions (new in 2020-21). Akron is 70-18 (.795) at home in league play since the start of the 2011 MAC schedule. UA has seen a ton of success in league play since the start of the 2004-05 season, and is 187-91 overall (.669), including a 116-24 mark in MAC play at home (.822). The Zips' 187 wins are the most in the league during that stretch. The Zips have won 105 of their last 152 MAC games (.685). Previously, the Zips posted a 59-36 mark (.617) in the last 95 games against the MAC East dating back to the start of the 2012 league schedule. Akron is 6-3 against the MAC East at the conference tournament during that stretch. Akron is 112-53 in the regular season against the West Division (.679), including winners of 55 of the last 72 regular-season games since divisional play began during the 1997-98 season.

The Last Meeting
The Akron Zips recorded their 20th win of the season as Tyler Cheese notched a double-double to lift Akron to a 71-67 win over Western Michigan at Read Fieldhouse on Feb. 18, 2020.

Cheese led the Zips with a 23-point, 11-rebound effort. His 23-point performance was his second-best scoring effort of the season while the 11 boards marks a season high. Cheese shot 7-of-14 (.500) from the floor, 3-of-5 (.600) from deep and 6-of-7 (.857) from the free throw line to go along with three steals, two assists and a blocked shot.

Senior Loren Cristian Jackson (Chicago, Ill.) followed with 17 points, four assists and two rebounds as Akron (20-6, 10-3 Mid-American) collected their sixth league win on the road (6-1). With the win, Akron moved to a first-place stalemate with Bowling Green and the Zips currently own the tie-breaker.

Both teams struggled to put points on the board early, starting the game 2-of-10 collectively. With four minutes expired the score was 3-2 in favor of Western Michigan (11-15, 4-9 Mid-American) as both squads shot 1-of-5 from the field.

Cheese recorded the Zips initial bucket and scored seven of the Zips first nine points. His transition 3-pointer at the 13:47 mark gave Akron its second and final lead of the game, although the home team kept the game close. Akron led for 34:33 of the contest.

Akron led by as many as eight points in the first frame after a 10-2 run created distance on the scoreboard. Jackson lifted the Zips to a 17-10 advantage with a deep triple from the center of the floor, and a Cheese long-range jumper set the Zips ahead 29-21 with 5:47 left to play.

The Zips held a 21-16 edge on the glass in the opening 20-minutes and registered 11 second chance points as Akron led 36-29 at intermission. The Zips committed nine turnovers which turned into four points for the Broncos. However, the Zips forced 10 turnovers and capitalized with nine points.

The Broncos scored 20-of-29 points in the paint as Michael Flowers notched 14 of his 22 points in the first frame. Cheese and Jackson posted double-digit scoring efforts in the first half with 14 and 10, respectively.

In the second half, Akron pushed the lead to nine points within the first five minutes, 46-37. However, the Broncos began to chip away at the visitors lead and used a 6-0 run to cut the deficit to one-point. 51-50.

On the ensuing possession, Jackson pulled up for a 3-point attempt on a fastbreak. He buried the shot to give Akron a four-point advantage. The Zips pushed the lead back to nine points, 64-55, after a series of free throws from Cheese and senior Xeyrius Williams (Springfield, Ohio).

Akron finished the game shooting 37.9 percent from the floor (22-of-58) and 33.3 percent from long distance (8-of-24). The Zips took better care of the ball in the second stanza and ended with 13 turnovers while edging the Broncos on the glass 40-37.

Flowers led the WMU with 22 points while Brandon Johnson posted a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double.

Junior Jaden Sayles (Cincinnati, Ohio) chipped in nine points and three rebounds in the winning effort while senior Deng Riak (Melbourne, Australia), freshman Greg Tribble (Huntington, W.Va.) and Williams finished with six points each.

UP NEXT
Akron will host the second meeting against Eastern Michigan at James A. Rhodes Arena. Fans can follow the action on ESPN+, WHLO 640 AM or GoZips.com.

The University of Akron Athletics

Third Game of the Week, Akron Travels to Western Michigan

Players Mentioned

Tyler Cheese

Loren Cristian Jackson

Deng Riak

Jaden Sayles

Greg Tribble

Xeyrius Williams

Related Videos