Zips hoops: Twitter Q & A

If you have a question related to University of Akron sports, send it to me via Twitter @GeorgeThomasABJ.  Here are a couple of queries for this week:

What is Chauncey Gilliam’s condition? He seems slow, tentative, frustrated. Not scoring. Is knee ok? - ‏@tjk4zips

Chauncey is still battling through the aftereffects of that minor surgery to his meniscus injury.  Also, after talking to him Monday, you could easily see from its Rudolph-the-Red-Nosed-Reindeer hue, he is also suffering from a cold.  But I will be honest, and this is merely my opinion, Gilliam is still trying to deal with losing his starting gig.  That’s too bad considering the fact that he returned from that knee surgery with a rather large chip on his shoulder. Against Kent State he scored 11 crucial points and followed it up with 12 points against Buffalo.   He had a foundation to build on for future games, but since then he’s been in a funk for reasons that remain known to him.

Is there a fix for the Zips free throw shooting? - ‏@AZipsFan

Ummm…prayer?  A statue of Buddha so they can rub its belly?  A leprechaun traveling with the team?  Fixing the Zips free throw woes – meaning the team shoots under 66 percent – depends on who’s doing the shooting.  If you look at the Zips stats, center Zeke Marshall has more than two times more FT attempts than his nearest teammate, Demetrius Treadwell, with 130 and is shooting 65 percent. Treadwell is at 53 percent. If Marshall fixes his issues, the percentage goes back up.  As for Treadwell….errr..let’s just say he was working on his free throw shooting after his teammates left.  That’s one way to try to solve the problem.