THE UNIVERSITY OF AKRON ZIPS TOOK ON THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA GOPHERS IN A MEN’S BASKETBALL CONTEST

The Akron Zips took on the University of Minnesota in a nonconference men’s basketball game at Williams Arena. Akron came into the game with a record of 4-3 overall. The Gophers came into the game with a record of 9-1. The Gophers were ranked number 20 in the nation according to the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll.

Coming into the game Blake Hoffarber needed 6 points to get his 1,000th career point.

The Gophers won the tip. On their first possession they were not able to score. On the defensive end the Gophers started out in a matchup zone defense.

Akron looked to push the ball up the court from the start. They were able to take a lot of time off the clock.

Rodney Williams came up with a nice two-handed slam dunk that gave the Gophers some momentum early in the game.

With 15:45 left to go in the first half the score was Minnesota 8 and Akron 6.

The Gophers did a good job of pushing the ball in transition. They did however have a difficult time scoring baskets inside the paint.

With 10:31 left to go in the first half the score was Akron 12 and Minnesota 11.

Akron went on a run after the timeout. They were able to make shots. The Gophers were not able to get the ball in the basket for a period of time.

Williams did a god job of keeping the Gophers in sync on the offensive end. He knew where his teammates were on the court and was able to set them up in good spots to make shots.

With 6:00 left to go in regulation the score was Akron 19 and Minnesota 18.

Blake Hoffarber scored on a free throw with 5:22 left to go in the first half to give him his 1,000th point.

With 3:45 the score was Akron 25 and Minnesota 24.

The Gophers continued to shoot the ball late in the half.

The first half went back and forth. Both teams played well in the first half. At halftime the score was Akron 32 and Minnesota 27.
 

Minnesota kept looking for Mbakwe who was camped out on the low block for scoring chances. Mbakwe was very aggressive on both ends of the court.
 

With 15:08 left to go in regulation the score was tied at 34.
 

Both teams battled and the game went back and forth. Neither team was able to get into flow early in the second half. Both teams went hard after each other and neither gave up.
 

Mbakwe continued to play well on the low block. He and Ralph Sampson made some good passes to each other. Those two got to the line when they got fouled.
 

The Gophers went on a run with about 10:00 left to go in regulation. Akron was not able to recover after the Gophers went on their run.
 

The Gophers stepped up their game in the second half. I thought that the Gophers played much better in the second half. 

They were able to come away with the 66-58 victory over Akron. 

I thought that Akron played well throughout the game. I thought that Brian Walsh played well for Akron. He was all over the floor for Akron all night long.

The leading scorers for Akron were Steve Mcness with 12 points and Nikola Cvetinovic with 11 points. The leading scorers for Minnesota were Blake Hoffarber and Trevor Mbawkwe with 13 points each. Rodney Williams had 12 points and Devoe Joseph had 11 points.

After the game Minnesota’s head coach Tubby Smith addressed the media to talk about the game. Also Gopher players Rodney Williams and Trevor Mbakwe talked to the media about the game.