After the latest dramatic win to put on its 2011-12 resume, the University of Akron men’s basketball team is showing some signs of cohesion.
The Zips (11-6, 3-0 Mid-American Conference) get to continue to prove that as they travel to the University of Buffalo (8-6, 1-2) to take on the Bulls tonight at Alumni Arena, a venue that hasn’t been kind to them in recent years. They’ve amassed a 2-5 record there, coach Keith Dambrot said Tuesday.
“It’s a hard place. Their setting is a difficult place to play,” he said. “They’re a different team at home. They’re big and strong at home.”
Big might be an understatement.
Joel McCrea stands 6-foot-7 and Mitchell Watt 6-10. They are among the Bulls’ leading scorers. McCrea averages 16.7 points and Watt 15.5. Guard Zach Filzen averages 12.2 points.
If the Zips are going to be effective against the Bulls, they will rely heavily on their big men — all of them — to put bodies on McCrea and Watt. But they will also need to be effective rebounding, given the Bulls lead the conference in that category.
“We have to get to the shooters, and when the ball goes up, we have to get to the backboard,” Dambrot said. “I’d say them and Western Michigan are perennially the best teams on the backboards.”
It’s still too early to discern how the MAC’s East Division is going to play out, but the Zips can certainly get a leg up with a win against the Bulls. Riding a four-game winning streak, three of those within the East, the Zips can go 4-0 in the MAC for the first time since the 2007-08 season.
“The next four games for us are going to be key because the next three out of four games are on the road,” Dambrot said. “So far we’ve been able to weather the road a little bit and we’ve been able to weather close games. And we have to be able to continue to do that.”
The next four games are against Buffalo, Kent State, Ball State and Central Michigan.
Green leaves team
Dambrot confirmed that redshirt freshman forward Michael Green left the team. Dambrot declined to give a reason. The reality of Green’s situation, however, likely had more to do with the roster’s composition. The Zips are loaded with big men and the likelihood that he would get playing time ahead of sophomore Demetrious Treadwell and the surging Nick Harney was slim.
Quick hits
UA has opened its MAC schedule 4-0 or better on just three occasions (6-0, 2005-06; 6-0, 1999-2000; 4-0, 2007-08). … Akron and Buffalo have faced each other twice in the postseason, including the 1965 NCAA Division II Mideast Regional (W, 69-58) and the 2009 MAC title game (W, 65-53). … The Bulls are 1-2 in MAC play and are 6-1 overall at home, including three wins in a row.
George M. Thomas can be reached at gmthomas@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Zips blog at http://zips.ohio.com. Follow the Zips on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/GeorgeThomasABJ and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/sports.abj.
