Akron (4-3) took a break from their usual OOC slate of teams that are in the bottom 5% of D1 or aren’t even in D1 at all, to travel to College Station to take on 19th-ranked Texas A&M-CS. Predictably, the Zips lost a game they weren’t expected to win, coming undone in the second half to fall to the Aggies 74-62.
Losing to the Aggies ain’t no big thing, but if I’m Akron coach Keith Dambrot, I’d be concerned about the play of my point guard Humpty Hitchens and star frosh Zeke Marshall. Hitchens is 2-of-23 from the floor in the last two games, which explains the 30% shooting from the floor for the season. More troubling is the assist-to-turnover ratio that is barely better than 1-to-1, and definitely isn’t good enough for a starting point. Especially when four of Akron’s first seven games have come against teams that rank 200th or worst in the nation per Ken Pomeroy.
Marshall’s sluggish start is less troubling for Dambrot, but it’s still a concern. Could be the hype was bigger than the 7-footer’s (current) skill level, but I think was more was expected of Marshall than 44% shooting and 4.7 boards per game. Marshall did swat four shots against the Aggies tonight, and grabbed nine boards, but he only scored six points in 22 minutes of action. That isn’t good enough.
Fortunately for those that back the ‘Roo, tonight’s go-round with Texas A&M-CS was an aberration in Akron’s pork belly of a schedule. They get Malone — Bugsy? Sam? Moses? — on December 12th, before playing four home games in a row against teams that Ken Pomeroy currently ranks in the bottom third.
If the Zips aren’t 9-3 after that stretch then we might need to question whether or not the MAC is also above Akron’s weight class.
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