Madness begins tonight for Akron Zips
AKRON, Ohio (WJW) – Let the madness begin! It’s game day for the Akron Zips as they take on Creighton.
The 14th-seed Akron Zips take on 3rd-ranked Creighton at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday. The Zips are 1-3 all-time against Creighton with the last match-up eight years ago.
The Zips said they know the opposing team has good-sized players and big skills on both offense and defense but they’re looking forward to the challenge.
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The Zips flirted with becoming a Cinderella team in the 2022 NCAA tournament almost taking out UCLA in the first game. They are a veteran team and said they’ll use their experience heading into this big game.
“Our experience in a tournament before is going to help us tremendously,” said Forward Enrique Freeman. “We can pick up mistakes we messed up on execution-wise when we played UCLA.”
“It helps us having familiarity with the bright lights,” said Zips Guard Ali Ali. “At the end of the day it’s a 40-minute game. We’ll have to play hard and execute on both sides of the ball.”
“They have been around awhile,” said Coach John Groce. “They’ve played in big games – the good, the bad, the ugly, the ups and downs that you have to fight through.”
All eyes will be on Forward Enrique Freeman who has an unbelievable story.
When he went to Akron he had no plans of playing basketball. He decided to become a walk-on and now is one of the best athletes in the MAC. During his years he has won Defensive Player of the Year, MAC Tournament MVP twice, Conference MVP and now All-American.
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“I’m just truly thankful for the journey,” said Freeman. “We’ve all put in a lot of work to get to where we are now and we can continue to push forward.”
Coach Groce said Freeman’s mother is a Cleveland City Police Officer who raised him right.
This will be Akron’s 6th NCAA Tournament appearance but they have yet to advance from the first round.
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