About halfway through the University of Akron men’s basketball season, Zips fans should look at themselves and say, “We have confidence in John Groce.” »
After Tuesday night’s 85-78 win over Mid-American Conference foe Toledo, the Zips are 11-5, including 4-0 in the MAC. In successfully defending Rhodes Arena against the Rockets, the Zips are also 8-0 at home and riding a four-game winning streak against formidable Ohio (10-6, 4-0) who are scheduled to travel to Friday at 6 p.m.
In Groce’s eighth season as UA head coach, he was forced to adapt more than usual in a college sports landscape dominated by the transfer portal and name deals, of image and resemblance. As usual, he does a good job.
Akron Basketball victory against Toledo: Zips men rally for MAC victory with huge second half
Akron won the MAC tournament and qualified for March Madness last year. Its 2023-24 season ended with a 77-60 first-round loss to Creighton and a 24-11 record.
A special senior class of six players, led by Indiana Pacers rookie forward Enrique Freeman, has graduated, leaving Groce to lead the charge into a new era of Zips hoops. Reloading is not unusual for MAC programs. This is the new normal. Yet UA went from a tight-knit, veteran-laden roster to nine new players this season, including five transfers. Seven players returned from last season’s team.
Zips, new and old, have bought into what their coach is selling. Part of the talk is “all gas, no brakes”. Eleven UA players average at least 10 minutes per game. One of them, junior forward Josiah Harris, is out due to injury. Ten players had double-digit minutes against four-time defending MAC regular-season champion Toledo (9-7, 3-1). Half of those 10 are newcomers to AU.
Groce said he’s never played so many games against 10 guys in his coaching career. The changes in depth and style allowed the Zips to increase their pace and 3-point shooting. UA averages 82.3 points per game and allows 73.6 for a scoring margin of 8.7. He shoots 11.4 3-pointers per game and makes 35.1%. Last season, Akron averaged 73.6 points per game and gave up 66.2 for a margin of 7.4. He shot eight 3-pointers per game and shot 32.4%.
In the first half Tuesday, the Zips lacked energy and execution on defense. They trailed 42-30 at halftime. In the second half, Akron made some adjustments to its defense, stepped up its intensity and unleashed its firepower, outscoring Toledo 55-36.
Junior guard Nate Johnson scored 15 of his game-high 28 points and grabbed six of his nine rebounds in the second half. His point and rebound totals were career bests in a single game.
Junior forward Amani Lyles added 16 points, all after halftime. Senior guard Shammah Scott scored 12 points. Senior guard Seth Wilson added nine points, all in the second half.
“The biggest thing was just resilience, lack of panic and incredible balance,” Groce said of his team’s rebound after halftime.
The players deserve credit for overcoming obstacles (Johnson carried the Zips by delivering his best game in a UA uniform), but there is also a plan to follow. Culture starts with Groce and his team, and remarkable leaders like Freeman have built on that foundation in recent years.
Groce’s love for basketball is hard to miss. That obsession has resulted in a 151-86 record thus far during his tenure in Akron. His players recently mobbed him while congratulating him on a major milestone, winning No. 150 with UA, a 105-81 triumph Saturday at Eastern Michigan.
“As much as a player is good and he has that passion, he also has that passion,” Freeman told the Beacon Journal Sunday after the Pacers’ 108-93 win over the Cavaliers. “Some days he just doesn’t sleep because he’s like, ‘I have to think about what’s going to happen next,’ and that’s just his dedication, of course.”
A revamped roster could lead to more sleepless nights.
With new faces playing key roles, Groce admitted he is focusing on being “aggressively patient” this season. He gave an example related to training his big men on defense.
“We play pick-and-roll coverage, and sometimes I have to remind myself, ‘OK, maybe this guy hasn’t figured it out yet,’” Groce said. “He’s been here since June. Freeman didn’t get it for over a year, and then the last three and a half months he’s been great at it. But the first year and a half, he didn’t look like he did the last three and a half years in that coverage. So why shouldn’t I be patient with a guy who’s been here since June? He just arrived. He has never played this cover before.
The transition of Freeman and Co.’s program has not been smooth at every step. When the MAC portion of the schedule arrived two weeks ago, Akron had lost three of its previous four games. The latest of those setbacks came as the Zips ended a month-long stint away from home.
“It really galvanized us a little bit, I think,” Groce said.
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Akron was expected to stay together Tuesday after a bizarre sequence led Toledo to make six foul shots with 19.4 seconds left in the first half.
Toledo sophomore guard Sonny Wilson stole the ball and fouled Scott on a fast break. Then Scott and Groce each received a technical foul, apparently for expressing disagreement with an official. Junior guard Seth Hubbard made all four free throws allowed due to technical issues, and Wilson made one of his two attempts following Scott’s shooting foul. What had essentially turned into a five-point game had Akron with a 12-point gap at halftime.
Please excuse Groce while he waxes philosophical about this.
“The struggle is real,” he said. “Everyone has difficulties. Everyone is facing something. It’s not perfect. I have a 9 year old daughter. You look at social media, and sometimes she thinks this is how you’re supposed to look and act and everything is perfect. I hope she doesn’t think, “What’s wrong with me?” Because she’s in trouble, like the rest of us. We’re all screwed.
“We all have issues, problems and struggles. So we try to normalize things by saying, “Hey, we just didn’t play very well.” I missed a few shots. There were a few turnovers. There were a few technical errors. They shot more free throws than us. A lot of things didn’t go our way. But in this agreement, everything depends on how you react to it.
Groce reflects on societal issues because the Zips went off the rails late in the first half, which is part of why he’s such an effective coach. He reminds players that there is more to life than basketball, and opening up to them builds confidence. This also gets their attention.
“It kind of gave us a spark, honestly,” Scott said of the adversity UA faced late in the first half. “Seeing coach get fired up like that — and then the crowd brought a lot of energy — we just played through that, and we just carried it over to the next half.”
The Zips don’t look like last season in terms of personnel or style of play, but familiar levels of camaraderie and success can be achieved. Groce continues to adapt and his players follow suit.
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nullrich@thebeaconjournal.com. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich.
This article was originally published in the Akron Beacon Journal: Akron basketball beats Toledo, John Groce Zips remain undefeated in MAC
