University of Akron dominates Northern Illinois in MAC men's basketball
Playing without guard Xavier Castaneda, who was tied for second in scoring in the Mid-American Conference, the University of Akron men’s basketball team shook off a slow start to dominate Northern Illinois 76-51 in the conference opener Tuesday night at Rhodes Arena.
UA (9-5, 1-0) outscored the Huskies 48-25 in the second half to take control of the game, sailing to the win.
Zips forward Enrique Freeman posted a career high with 27 points and matched another with 15 rebounds, leading the teams in both categories.
Zarique Nutter led the Huskies (4-10, 0-1) with 11 points.
There was a lot to like, and some things to clean up for the Zips. Here are several takeaways from the win.
Other Akron Zips needed to fill Xavier Castaneda void
Castaneda’s absence was clear from the beginning of the game as it took the Zips until deep into the first half to find any sort of offensive flow. After trailing by four points with 5:14 in the first, UA flipped things with a 13-1 run to find their offensive flow.
To that point the Zips relied on Freeman's inside game until UA’s offensive shots started to fall. A 12-1 run to open the second half gave the Zips a 13-point lead and, seemingly, some breathing room.
And the Zips needed players other than Freeman offensively. They got it as guard Greg Tribble produced only his second double-digit game of the with a season high of 16 points, and guard Nate Johnson added eight points.
Freeman took note.
“I thought it was huge. When you have a guy out, it's kind of like a rally type of deal where everybody wants to get together and rally and play for that one guy,” he said. “I thought we did a great job stepping up as a team, and some of the young guys did a great job stepping up and filling that role and playing hard tonight.”
Even though he was absent with a hand injury, coach John Groce said Castaneda played an important role.
“[He] did a great job on the bench of talking to guys as they were coming in and out of the game. And he was really engaged and great leadership,” Groce said.
He credited Castaneda with helping the four freshmen who played against the Huskies.
The Enrique Freeman factor came into play for Akron
Freeman dominated on the low block with his jump hook from the right and left hands. He shot 10 of 18 on his way to his career high. On more than a few occasions, mostly when the Zips struggled in the first half, his misses came courtesy of unfavorable bounces.
He seemingly touched the ball on every offensive possession.
“Well, I don't know if he touched on everyone,” Groce said. “We tried to make, regardless of whether [Xavier] is playing or not, we want to establish him. That's a big part of who we are. And obviously [Xavier] is a big part of who we are offensively, so ’Rique was able to do that and I thought some of the other guys stepped up certainly in [Xavier’s] absence.
The Akron Zips needed to play solid defense
UA came into the game ranked second in the conference defensively, and Groce gave his team credit for the effort as the Zips held the Huskies to 35% shooting from the floor (18 of 51).
The Huskies had their leading scorer in Keshawn Williams, who is tied with Castaneda for second in the MAC, for the game. And Groce made a shrewd move by putting UA guard Trendon Hankerson, an NIU graduate transfer, on him. That familiarity showed up as Hankerson pestered his former teammate anytime he was on him defensively, holding him to 10 points for the night.
Hankerson acknowledged that the familiarity helped.
“It definitely helps a lot, just having recognized some of the things that he can do on offense and how gifted he is on offense,” Hankerson said. “So having played with him every day, it was definitely easier for me to take away some of his tendencies.”
Zips have early impressive start to MAC season
It would be easy to overreact to the victory, the first game on the MAC schedule, but the reality is the Zips arrived at this point with plenty of question marks still. Freeman isn’t one of them. Castaneda isn’t one of them either. Hankerson appears to finally found his role on the team. It’s plausible to argue if one of those three goes down UA will struggle and, against the Huskies, UA did for a significant portion of the game.
However, playing without Castaneda, Tuesday's win can serve as a confidence booster for the Zips.
Reach George M. Thomas at gthomas@thebeaconjournal.com
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Enrique Freeman leads Akron Zips to dominating win in MAC opener
