Tonight, the UCLA Bruins begin their Road to the Final Four when they face the Akron Zips at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon. Tip-off is set for approximately 6:50 pm PT and the game will air on TBS.
While Akron finished tied for third in the MAC regular season standings, the Zips defeated regular season champ Toledo in the MAC Tournament semifinals, 70-62. They went on to crush 2nd-seeded Kent State, 75-55, in the championship game to win the tournament and earn the conference’s automatic bid in the NCAA Tournament.
The Zips are led by John Groce. Groce previously led both Ohio and Illinois to the NCAA Tournament. He took Ohio to the Second Round in his first trip and to the Sweet 16 in 2011-12. The next year, after taking over at Illinois, he led the Fightin’ Illini to the Second Round. This is the first time he has taken Akron to the Tournament.
The Zips’ 24-9 record appears to be a little deceiving. Akron only played one ranked team all season and that was Ohio State in early December and they narrowly lost that game, 67-66. Besides that game, it’s hard to know just how good the Zips really are.
Starting Five
Akron features three players which are all averaging in double figures. Sophomore forward Ali Ali leads the team with an average of 14.2 ppg while junior guard Xavier Castaneda isn’t far behind with an average of 13.5 ppg. Sophomore Enrique Freeman, the other starting forward, is the third guy in double figures. He averages 13.2 ppg.
Freeman is the team’s leading rebounding. His 10.8 rebounds per game means that you can expect him to put up a double-double each game. Hopefully, Miles Johnson brings his A game tonight to defend Freeman because he is not an outside shooter. He has only taken 3 shots from beyond the arc all season long and he made none of them. Don’t expect him to try.
On the other hand, Ali is the team’s best guy, percentage-wise, from downtown. He is shooting 41.2% from three-point range, but Ali doesn’t take as many shots from long-range as Castenada, who leads the Zip in 3-point attempts with 194 and 3-pointers made with 74. So, while his 37.6 3-point percentage is lower than Ali, he will be the guy shooting from three most often.
Akron does have another guy averaging more than 10 points per game, but Brian Trimble, Jr. has not played since mid-February due to what coach Groce calls a “leave of absence,” according to the Akron Beacon Journal.
The two remaining starters are Greg Tribble and Mikal Dawson. Both of these guards are sophomores. Tribble typically adds 7.3 ppg while Dawson averages 6.0 ppg. Each of them is getting about 24 or 25 minutes of playing time per game.
Outlook
It’s hard to believe that this game will be close, but the Zips stand between the Bruins and their ultimate goal of winning the national championship. So, they have to approach this game seriously. While Akron has won 24 games, they’ve only played one ranked team all season.
On paper, this game looks to be a piece of cake. At the same time, Richmond beat Iowa today. As a result, Bruin fans need to hope the team shows up to play tonight. If they do, they should take care of business easily and win by at least 20 points.
Listen to the Game With TMB!
TuneIn.com now has UCLA’s games listed as “premium” content. So, rather than using TuneIn, you can just listen through the official website like we have done with the small sports for a long time in order to listen to Josh Lewin and Tracy Murray call tonight’s game. Tonight’s game is on TBS with Andrew Catalon, Steve Lappas and Andy Katz calling the game. If you don’t want listen to them on TV and prefer to listen to Lewin and Murray, just be sure to right-click on it so that you can open up another tab and have it going while you chat in the comments below. Listen to today’s game online.
In the meantime, here’s how to watch tonight’s game:
This is your UCLA Bruins vs. Akron Zips 2022 NCAA Tournament First Round game thread.
2022 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament First Round
Teams: 13-seed Akron Zips (24-9) vs. 4-seed UCLA Bruins (25-7)
Series Record: First meeting
When: 6:50 pm PT, Thursday, March 17, 2022
Where: Moda Arena, Portland, OR
TV: TBS with Andrew Catalon, Steve Lappas, and Andy Katz
Thanks again for supporting The Mighty Bruin. Your paid subscriptions make this site possible. Questions, comments, story ideas, angry missives and more can be sent to to @TheMightyBruin on Twitter.
Ucla playing like they’re not taking Akron seriously. Lazy passes, Bernard trying to split a double for no reason, jacking up a bunch of 3s, Myles letting someone behind him get an offensive rebound that drew Mick’s ire.
Terrible start. Don’t understand why we’re trying to push the pace and force threes. We need to play D and work the ball on offence. Look like they’re just expecting everything to go their way due to the higher seed.
Congrats to Cronin as that was a rued of an offensive game plan. And rather than make in game changes after abysmal shooting (0-9 stretch) he leaves them to keep chucking it up. Talk about getting out coached. Really hoping someone flips a switch as the first 5:00 min of second half are HUGE to setting tone for outcome.
UCLA looks pathetic… where is the intensity we saw in the pac 12 tourney? Shooting is abysmal. They literally have 50-100 pounds underneath and can’t get into the paint to save their lives
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St Mary’s is up 31 pts right now. Another embarrassing outing by the Big 10. Now ucla gotta take care of business against both Akron!
Kentucky just lost…
A lot of madness happening today. 2 Big 10 embarrassments.
JUZANG!
Juzang right off the bat!!
Bernard, ugh
Poor shot selection
Tyger with a 3!
Not blocking out
Not loving our offense so far. Too many outside shots and a couple lazy passes.
Juze!
Now I love that play by Jules!
Akron defends well and we aren’t moving the ball.
Ucla playing like they’re not taking Akron seriously. Lazy passes, Bernard trying to split a double for no reason, jacking up a bunch of 3s, Myles letting someone behind him get an offensive rebound that drew Mick’s ire.
Terrible start. Don’t understand why we’re trying to push the pace and force threes. We need to play D and work the ball on offence. Look like they’re just expecting everything to go their way due to the higher seed.
Ugh, hero ball!
Pathetic so far. No ball movement on offense. Bernard forcing things. Passive defense.
They look absolutely effing terrible. Like they weren't ready to play against a team who was going to try hard.
Turnover machines right now.
Nice job by Tyger getting inside - and it pays off +1
They're really working hard to keep the ball out Jaime's hands.
Can’t get the ball to Jaime down low
That whole offensive set was just passes around the perimeter. Got bailed out with the foul away from the ball
No matter how bad our shots are, we need to start playing better D. It all starts on the defensive end; offense will come! Let's go, D!!
This is going to be a slog. We’re getting nothing inside.
Is there a reason Juzang can’t run the baseline. It’s completely wide open. No one EVERlooks for back cuts
Ucla starting to figure out Akrons defense a bit. Got the ball down low to Riley but he missed, and Bernard just hit a shot.
Now just needs to buckle down on the defensive side.
Finally getting the ball inside more, even if it just to pass it back out, and it's opening things up better.
They aren't taking bad threes. They're just missing them.
Great d!!
Jaime!!
Defense!!
I though that might have been a goaltend.
Jaquez should play the rest of the game
Wow, crazy.
2 on their big! Hope they take him outta the game!
3 Js are 5-16. Late wake-up call?
LiveStats limited to the media only today -_-
C'mon, Tyger, that shot was way too quick!
2 on both Castaneda and Freeman; I seriously doubt they have a deep bench
Clark got completely lost on that press. You would think he could’ve kept track of the one guy in his vicinity
Wish we would called a TO and actually set up a play at the end there
Suck, we don't have the juice so far
Well they’re doubling Jaquez every time he touches the ball in the post too. He can’t be lackadaisical with it
Our shooting that half was ASU-esque.
The D is fine but we need the O to get going against their swarming D
Congrats to Cronin as that was a rued of an offensive game plan. And rather than make in game changes after abysmal shooting (0-9 stretch) he leaves them to keep chucking it up. Talk about getting out coached. Really hoping someone flips a switch as the first 5:00 min of second half are HUGE to setting tone for outcome.
UCLA looks pathetic… where is the intensity we saw in the pac 12 tourney? Shooting is abysmal. They literally have 50-100 pounds underneath and can’t get into the paint to save their lives
Just have to make shots. Almost none of those threes have been contested. You have to make open shots.