'His versatility is ridiculous': Ali Ali helps lead Akron Zips into NCAA Tournament

The University of Akron men's basketball team is headed to the NCAA Tournament riding an eight-game winning streak.

Zips 6-foot-8, 196-pound sophomore Ali Ali attributes the recent success to he and his teammates "attention to detail" and "extra efforts on both ends of the ball."

UA displayed those winning traits in its run to a Mid-American Conference Tournament championship, and it will need to continue to play with that mindset as a No. 13 seed in the East Region at 9:50 p.m. Thursday against No. 4 seed UCLA in a first-round game at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon.

The Zips (24-9, 14-6 MAC) will be an underdog against the Bruins (25-7, 15-5) — a Final Four team a year ago who have won 11 national championships as a program. But Ali is ready for the opportunity as UA's leading scorer at 14.2 points per game this season.

"The little things add up and we are doing the little things more consistently," Ali said Sunday inside Rhodes Arena after UA heard its name called on the NCAA Tournament Selection Show.

"It is showing because we are on a little bit of a win streak because we have been able to focus in on those little things every game."

UA's win streak started with a 67-48 victory at Eastern Michigan on Feb. 19. The Zips then finished the regular season with wins at home over Bowling Green (82-68), at Ohio (91-83), at Ball State (79-60) and at home over Central Michigan (57-56).

UA entered the MAC Tournament as the No. 4 seed at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland and defeated No. 5 seed Buffalo 70-68 on Thursday, No. 1 seed Toledo 70-62 on Friday and No. 2 seed Kent State 75-55 on Saturday.

Ali is averaging 16.4 points and 3.4 rebounds per game during the streak as a starter with sophomores Enrique Freeman, Greg Tribble and Mikal Dawson and junior Xavier Castaneda.

"These guys are so special because of who they are as people, which is why this has been fun," UA coach John Groce said. "These guys are good students, good people, good teammates and hard workers."

Groce reflected on when he first saw Ali play a few years ago during an event in Michigan.

"We went to see another guy in Grand Rapids, not him [Ali]," Groce said. "We found him and [Zips assistant coach] Dustin Ford and I were like 'Whoa, man, he is pretty good. Let's watch him again.' We watched him a second time that day.

"Dustin and I, both of us were supposed to leave that event to go to another event to recruit. We kept Dustin behind. I said 'Hey, Dustin why don't you stay and watch him play some more and make sure our eyes aren't fooling us because no one knew about the kid. No one had heard of the kid. There was no one recruiting him, but we liked what we saw, went with our gut, offered him a scholarship and obviously the rest is history. Now he is a second-team All-MAC guy, a leading scorer and a sophomore."

Ali had 15 points, four assists and three rebounds in the dominant win over KSU on Saturday and was named to the All-Tournament team along with Freeman and Castaneda.

"My IQ and how I see the game has improved along with slowing things down," said Ali, a East Noble High School graduate and a native of Kendallville, Indiana.

"I have become a better shooter, ball handler and I am playing better in the post and becoming a better defender. All aspects of the game I have been able to build upon in my three years here."

Ali has scored in double figures in 26 games this season, including nine in a row entering the NCAA Tournament. He scored a career-high 32 points and had four assists and three rebounds in an 88-76 win at home over Buffalo on Jan. 1.

"The unique thing about Ali is he is 6-foot-8 and he is a good defender," Groce said. "On offense, he can score on all three levels and he can pass. He is so versatile. His versatility is ridiculous. That is what makes him a good player."

Castaneda described Ali as "a mid-post specialist that is great on both ends of the court."

Ali, Freeman, Tribble and Dawson are the four remaining players on UA's roster from its 2019-2020 team that won the Mid-American Conference regular season championship. That Zips team (24-7, 14-4) was the No. 1 seed in the MAC Tournament, but its season was halted because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Zips ended that season with a three-game win streak with victories over Buffalo, Ohio and Kent State.

Ali said the current players keep in touch with the standouts from the 2020 UA team: Loren Cristian Jackson, Tyler Cheese, Channel Banks, Xeyrius Williams, Deng Riak and Camron Reece.

"They are proud and they are happy for us," Ali said. "They always believed in us all year, and even last year, too. They were with us two years ago and it felt like they had a really good chance to win [the MAC Tournament]. Winning [Saturday] was a big motivator for me to do it for those guys from the 2019-2020 team."

Michael Beaven can be reached at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MBeavenABJ.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Ali Ali helps lead Akron into NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament