Akron Hosts Wright State on Wednesday

Akron (5-4) vs Wright State (5-5)
Wednesday, Dec. 14 • James A. Rhodes Arena
Akron, Ohio • 7 PM (ET) • ESPN+

Game Coverage
TV: ESPN+: https://bit.ly/3j3G4yj
Live Stats: https://bit.ly/3gDBthm
Live Radio: WHLO 640AM - https://ihr.fm/3fFmzLo

Head Coaches
Wright State Head Coach
Scott Nagy (Delta State '88)
Overall Record: 546-308 (28th Season)
Record at Wright State: 136-68 (7th Season)
Record at South Dakota State: 410-240 (21 Seasons)

Akron Head Coach
John Groce (Taylor '94)
Career Record: 281-195 (15th Season)
Record at Akron: 99-63 (6th Season)
Overall MAC Record: 88-68 (at Ohio and Akron)

All-Time Series
All-Time Series
Zips lead: 14-8 • Groce vs Wright State: 1-0 at Akron (3-0 Overall)
Last Meeting: Akron 66, Wright State 48 • Dec. 15, 2021 at The Nutter Center • Dayton, Ohio
First Meeting: Akron 63, Wright State 60 • Jan. 28, 1975 in Dayton, Ohio

The Akron-Wright State Series
Wednesday's game marks the 23rd meeting in series history between the Zips and the Raiders. Akron is currently riding a four-game winning streak in the series and claimed a 66-48 in last season's series reboot at The Nutter Center on Dec. 15, 2021. Prior to the last meeting, Akron claimed a 72-44 win at The JAR on Dec. 31, 2005 and wins on Dec. 11, 2004 at the Nutter Center (81-70) and Dec. 30, 2003 at The JAR (85-67). The Raiders started the five-game series with a 78-75 victory at the Nutter Center on Nov. 23, 2002.

Scouting The Raiders
Wright State enters the game with a 5-5 overall record and 0-2 in Horizon League play. The Raiders average 77.4 points per outing on 50.4 percent shooting from the floor and a 32.7 percent effort from beyond the 3-point arc, draining 5.2 triples a game.

The Raiders opened the season with an overtime loss at Davidson (102-97) and boounced back to beat Louisville (73-72) which sparked a four-game winning streak. Wright State dropped both a pair of league games to Robert Morris and Youngstown State. The last time out, the Raiders fell to Western Kentucky (64-60) a team Akron defeated in the Cayman Islands.

Wright State has four players scoring in double figures led by Trey Calvin with 17.0 points per game on 52.9 percent shooting from the field, including eight made 3-pointers. He is the team's assist (47) leader. Amari Davis follows with 12.9 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. He is third on the squad on the glass, grabbing 51 total rebounds. Brandon Noel and AJ Braun round out the double-digit scoring with 12.1 and 10.1 points per game. Noel is the top-rebounder with 6.4 rebounds per game and 64 total boards. In addition, Tim Finke is the squads 3-point marksman with 15 made triples followed by Alex Huibregtse with 11 made 3-pointers.

Defensively, Wright State has allowed its opponents to scoring 72.9 points per game on 45.0 percent shooting from the floor and 32.3 percent from 3-point range, allowing only 5.2 long distance strikes per night. The Raiders have caused 152 turnovers (15.2 to/g) with 75 steals (7.5 stl/g). The Raiders outrebound the opponent by a +2.1 margin, allowing the opponent to grab 323 total boards (32.3 rebs/g) compared to the 344 total rebounds secured by the Raiders (34.4 rebs/g).

Last Time against Wright State
The Akron Zips led for 38-minutes in a dominant 66-48 win on the road over Wright State at the Ervin J. Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio in 2021-22. Three players registered double-digit scoring performances for Akron led by forward Ali Ali. Ali recorded a game-high 19 points on 7-of-12 (.583) shooting from the floor, including a 2-of-3 (.667) effort from deep. Guards Bryan Trimble, Jr. and Xavier Castaneda followed with 15 points and 14 points, respectively. Akron controlled the glass, outrebounding the home team 37-26 as forward Enrique Freeman and guard Garvin Clarke secured eight rebounds apiece.

Akron scored the first five points of the game as Castaneda buried back-to-back buckets, one in the lane and one from deep. Wright State answered with a 7-0 run, but 25-seconds later, Trimble hit a deep 3-pointer from the top of the key and Akron never trailed again. Trimble hit three of the Zips' six trifectas in the first stanza, leading Akron with nine first-half points en route to a 35-23 lead at the break.

Zips outscored the home team 15-6 early in the second half fueled by six points from Trimble. Castaneda added seven points in each half, while Ali scorched the Raiders for 14-second half points. Ali went 2-of-2 from beyond the 3-point arc in the final 20-minutes and only had one miscue as he finished the game with a 5-of-6 ledger.

The Zips defense limited Wright State's Tanner Holden to 12 points as he entered the game averaging a team-best 19.8 points per game. WSU's Grant Basile followed with 11 points, 7.8 points shy of his average, as the Zips forced tough shots throughout the game.

Home Sweet Home
The Zips own a 445-135 (.767) all-time record at Rhodes Arena. In the last 16 seasons, Akron has posted a 241-38 (.864) record at the JAR. Under coach Groce Akron is 66-13 (.825) at home. The Zips are 4-0 at home in 2022-23. Akron went 12-4 at Rhodes Arena in Groce's first year as head coach and followed with a 14-3 effort. The Zips went 15-2 at home in 2019-20 en route to the regular season MAC Championship. During COVID shortened season, Akron posted a 9-1 mark at the JAR (2020-21) and last season the Zips posted a 12-3 record. Akron is 1-0 at the JAR this year. Groce became the third Akron coach since 1940 to win his first six home games in the first season as head coach. The Zips rattled off seven straight wins at the JAR before falling in the MAC home opener to Buffalo. The Zips set the all-time longest home winning streak record at Rhodes Arena with 30 consecutive wins during the 2015-17 seasons, replacing the 26-game run the Zips made during the 1985-87 seasons under head coach Bob Huggins. The streak ranked No. 2 in the NCAA.

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Players Mentioned

Ali Ali

Xavier Castaneda

Garvin Clarke

Enrique Freeman

Bryan Trimble, Jr.

The University of Akron Athletics