There are some special reasons this game may be difficult. A week ago Akron announced that they were not renewing Melissa Jackson’s contract. Melissa is very pregnant and this will be her final home game. This was her 5th year and she has a 70-67 record at Akron. Akron has started the same 5 girls all year, and this will be the final home game (Senior Day) for 4 of them. Akron beat us in Oxford earlier in the season 77-66, their 7th straight win in the Miami series, although we are up 39-23 all time. No Miami player or Coach has won vs Akron. In their most recent game, Akron took Toledo to the buzzer before losing 80-76. In the first quarter of that game Akron hit 8 of 9 three pointers with 6 different players hitting one. That loss was their 6th in the least 7 games ( playing mostly the top 4 teams) after a 5-3 start. They usually play a zone most or all of the game, which is something we have not handled as well as man to man defenses.
Akron is led by sophomore Center Regan Bass who averages 17ppg and 7.6 rebounds. In the game we lost to Akron, Sr Transfer ( from Buffalo) Dominique Camp had a career best 25 points and stole the ball many times off careless Miami passes.
In our win over NIU, we shot 60.3%, which was our best since 2013. Currently Wolf 16.6ppg is 6th in the MAC, Scott 15.6ppg is 9th in the MAC, and Cluse 14.9ppg is 12th in the MAC. Wolf 91% and Scott 84.9% are first and fifth in the MAC in FT%. Wolf is 5th in the country. Cluse 7.9rpg is 5th in the MAC.
Needless to say, this game is huge for both teams, who are part of a 4 way tie for 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th in the MAC. I think both can still finish anywhere from 5th through 12th as the bottom 8 teams all have from 4 to 6 conference wins.
Probably not going to hire the top assistant when they fire the head Coach, but really, this staff did a solid job. They are 7-0 against us. They have a slightly above .500 record. The team was not in a great place when they got hired. I guess they are demanding a top of the MAC program.
We lost 88-80. Poor defensive game plan, poor execution. The first time we played them it was obvious we had no one who could guard their point guard Dominique Camp one on one as she just used her quickness to get around the defender. We also were unable to stop their center Reagan Bass.
We did not try double teaming Camp when she put the ball on the floor or helping out when Bass got the ball on the post. And they dominated. I would say that Sierra Morrow did a great job on Bass when put on her in the second half, she had 5 blocked shots and at least 4 of them were one on one against Bass, so much that they stopped throwing it in to her. However , Molly Nietzel had a career game with 24 points, so they just outscored us.
After hitting half our 3’s vs NIU on Wednesday, against the zone we often just passed it around the outside till we took a 3, and then 4 girls stood around the perimeter watching us miss and then retreated. We were a terrible 4 for 25 for 16%. When we went inside we scored pretty much at will with Cluse, Freeman, and Morrow inside. If you subtract the 1 for 6 by Maddie when she settled for a 3, those girls were 21 for 31 for 67%. Meanwhile Wolf and Scott were 7 for 29 between them for 24%. Both Ohio and Ball State ( sometimes) play a lot of zone, we need to get Scott and Cluse in their fighting for rebounds and driving to the hole instead of settling for 3’s. They are both good offensive rebounders against man to man, but often just stand around the 3 point line and jack up 3’s against a zone, which is the least effective part of their game.