Akron men’s basketball focusing on defense after Kent State win
A win over an archrival is always a great thing, but with that victory always comes the risk of an emotional letdown in its wake.
That’s a trap the the University of Akron men’s basketball team has been working to escape, and the host Zips did so Saturday night with a decisive 86-66 win over Buffalo at Rhodes Arena.
Akron beat Kent State 67-65 on Feb. 3 to move into first place in the Mid-American Conference, but the Zips then dropped back-to-back games to Toledo and Ohio. Those losses dropped the Zips to third in the conference and left them scrambling a bit on the defensive end.
Quickly, efforts were made to regain a level of defensive focus that had stifled the Golden Flashes. It showed up Tuesday in a win at Eastern Michigan and again Saturday night.
“It’s a lot of emotions going on. Everybody’s hyped,” said Akron senior guard Trendon Hankerson of the rivalry game. “That’s kind of like, and I wouldn’t say our Super Bowl of our season, but it’s a huge matchup for sure with the rivalry, and so emotions were definitely just at a high and I think they dipped a little bit after that. And too high or too low is not where we want to go. We want to stay right in the middle.”
Senior guard Xavier Castaneda was certainly right in the middle for the Zips Saturday night, scoring a game-high 30 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field, including 5 of 9 from beyond the 3-point arc and 11 of 12 from the free-throw line. He also had six rebounds, three assists and a steal.
In his second season at Akron after spending three seasons at South Florida, Castaneda became the 48th player in UA program history to surpass the 1,000-point plateau. He finished the game with 1,007 points with the Zips and has 1,500 career points overall.
Akron junior forward Enrique Freeman, who eclipsed 1,000 career points last week, compiled his 15th double-double of the season with 21 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, two blocks and a steal.
Freshman Nate Johnson contributed 11 points for the Zips (19-8, 11-3), who are one game behind KSU and Toledo and will look to pull even with the host Rockets on Tuesday night.
“That night was really a special night,” Zips coach John Groce said “… [Kent State is] up there with Toledo, so we played well that night, but I did not think our focus was where it needed to be that week after that. But that’s on us now. The question is, do you learn from it?”
Ryan Lewis can be reached at [email protected]. Michael Beaven contriuted to this article.
Read More: Akron men’s basketball focusing on defense after Kent State win