The University of Akron Athletics
University of Akron
Yale
Akron Begins the Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invitational With Yale on Friday
December 19 | Men's Basketball
Akron (6-3, 0-0Â Mid-American) vs Yale (7-4, 0-0 Ivy League)
Friday, Dec. 20 – Don Haskins Center – El Paso, Texas
7 pm ET – YouTube - WHLO 640
HEAD COACHES
Akron: John Groce | Overall Record: 328-216 | At Akron: 146-84
Yale:Â James Jones | Overall Record: 401-316 | At Yale: Same
ALL-TIME SERIES
Series Tied 1-1| Groce vs Yale: 1-0
First Met: Jan. 1, 1907 (W, Akron 36 - Yale 30) At Akron
Last Meeting: Dec, 23, 1907 (L, Yale 32- Akron 28)At Akron
Current Streak, L1
INSIDE THE SERIES
Akron and Yale meet for just the third time in program history and the first since the 1907-08 season. Akron (then Buchtel College) won the first meeting in Jan. 1, 1907, 36-30 before falling to Yale 32-28 on December 23, 1907 in the most recent meeting.
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
The Yale Bulldogs come into the Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invite with a 5-5 overall record and a 1-1 record on neutral sites. Yale most recently defeated Vermont at home, 65-50, on December 7.
Casey Simmons led the Bulldogs in scoring with 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting while hauling in eight rebounds. Bez Mbeng was also close to a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds. Yale finished with 30 of its 65 points coming from the paint.
Yale was selected to finished second in the Ivy League's official preseason media poll. Princeton led the way with 127 points and 15 first-place votes, followed by the Bulldogs and Brown (92). The Bulldogs return a pair of second team All-Ivy honorees from last season, Bez Mbeng and John Poulakidas. Mbeng is a two-time league defensive player of the year award winner.
The Bulldogs are scoring 82.1 points per game and are outscoring opponents by 10.7 points this season. So far, Yale is shooting .493 from the field and .385 from beyond the arc.
Poulakidas leads the Bulldogs with 21.1 points per game and is followed by Nick Townsend (13.1) and Mbeng (11.9). Townsend and Yassine Gharram are averaging 6.0 rebounds per game while Mbeng leads the squad with 5.8 assists and 1.4 steals per game. Samson Aletan is the leader in blocks with 14 on the season.
 Yale is top four in the Ivy League in scoring (3rd - 82.1), defense (4th - 71.4), scoring margin (2nd - 10.7), fg percentage (2nd - .493), opp. fg percentage (.410), 3pt percentage (.385), opp. 3pt percentage (4th - .327), ft percentage (4th - .726), rebounding (1st - 38.4), opp. rebounds (2nd - 31.4), off. rebounds (3rd - 11.1), def. rebounds (1st - 27.3), rebound margin (2nd - 7.0), turnover margin (4th - .80), assist-turnover ratio (1st - 1.78), blocks (3rd - 3.40) and assists (3rd - 18.9).
The Bulldogs rank 12th in the NCAA in assist-tunrover ratio (+1.78), 11th in assists per game (18.9), 58th in effective fg percentage (.556), 37th in fg percentage (.493), 91st in fg defense (.410), 44th in rebound margin (+7.0), 72nd in defensive rebounds (27.30), 87th in rebounds per game (38.40), 83rd in scoring margin (+10.7), 50th in scoring offense (82.1), 32nd in 3pt percentage (38.5) and 57th in turnovers per game (10.6).
Yale also sees Nick Townsend ranked 55th in the NCAA in asssit-tunrover ratio (2.73) while Bez Mbeng is ranked 75th in total assists (52) and assists per game (5.8). John Poulakidas is 9th in ft percentage (94.1), 11th in points per game (21.1), 51st in 3pt percentage (43.8) and 11th in 3pt baskets made per game (3.56).
ZIPS AT A GLANCE
The Akron Zips are once again away from James A. Rhodes Arena as they battle Yale in the Sun Bowl Invitational.
Akron enters the Sun Bowl invitational with a 6-3 overall record after falling to Milwaukee last week at the MKE Tip-Off.
Against the Panthers, the Zips had four players score in double figures, led by Tavari Johnson, who had 22 points and two steals. Nate Johnson tacked on 19 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals and Sharron Young chipped in as well with 11 points and three steals off the bench.
The Zips have seen scoring come from multiple avenues with eight players averaging eight or more points per game while two Zips average 10 or more points.
Akron has made 10 or more 3-pointers in seven games this season while hitting 15 or more in three games. Akron connected on a season-high 18 3's against against Omaha on November 23.
Akron is led in scoring by Nate Johnson's 13.1 points per game while Tavari Johnson is second with 13.0. T. Johnson is also the leader in assists with 4.0. N. Johnson leads the Blue and Gold in steals with 1.7 while James Okonkwo serves as the leader in rebounds with 8.1 and total blocks with 8.
The Zips rank in the top five in the MAC in scoring (1st - 85.2), scoring margin (1st - 9.8), opp. fg percentage (5th - .445), 3pt percentage (t1st - .368), opp. 3pt percentage (.338), 3pt fg made per game (12.1), ft percentage (5th - .727), rebounds (1st - 40.0), off. rebounds (1st - 13.4), def. rebounds (26.6), rebound margin (4th - 2.6), turnover margin (5th - 2.56), assist-turnover ratio (1st - 1.65), assists (1st - 19.67) and steals (2nd - 7.89).
Akron ranks 22nd in the NCAA for assist-turnover ratio (1.65), 6th in assists per game (19.7), 24th in bench points (32.67), 60th in fastbreak points (14.22), 27th in off. rebounds (14.0), 33rd in rebounds per game (40.78), 91st in scoring margin (9.8), 23rd in scoring offense (85.2), 74th in 3pt percentage (.368), 4th in 3pters made per game (12.1), 76th in turnover margin (2.6) and 72nd in turnovers forced per game (14.44).
James Okonkwo ranks 80th in the NCAA for off. rebounds per game (2.89) and 63rd in rebounds per game (8.1).
LAST TIME AT THE DON HASKINSÂ SUN BOWL INVITATIONALÂ (DEC. 22, 2016 VS UMES)
El Paso, Texas – On Thursday night, the Akron Zips secured its second tournament championship this season, defeating Maryland Eastern Shore, 76-60, to be crowned the 55th Annual WestStar Bank Don Haskins Sun Bowl Champions at the Don Haskins Center.
Junior guard Antino Jackson (Houston, Texas) earned the Barry Kobren Most Valuable Player Award for leading the Zips to their second tournament title, while senior center Isaiah Johnson (Cincinnati, Ohio) was named to the Sun Bowl All-Tournament Team. In addition, 13th-year head coach Keith Dambrot recorded his 288th victory at Akron, tying former head coach Russell Beichly (1941-59) as the winning-est coach in program history.
Jackson used two stellar performances to lead the Zips at the Sun Bowl Invitational, scoring a career-high 23 points on Wednesday against UC Irvine and followed with 13 points, six assists and four rebounds in the finale. Against UMES, he shot 5-of-12 from the field with three long distance buckets in 32 minutes of work.
For the tournament, Jackson logged 59 minutes, averaging 18 points per game on 56.5 percent shooting from the field (13-of-23) that included a 50.0 percent effort from beyond the 3-point arc (6-of-12). He was a perfect 4-of-4 from the free throw line and averaged 4.5 assists (9) and 4.0 rebounds (8) per game.Â
Meanwhile, Johnson followed a 12-point, six-rebound tournament-opening performance with his second double-double of the season. Johnson scored a team-high 15 points and grabbed a team-best 13 rebounds. He shot 6-of-8 from the field and 3-of-5 from the charity stripe while dishing out four assists and blocking two shots.
All five starters scored in double figures for the first time since March 10, 2009 as junior Jimond Ivey (Cleveland, Ohio), senior Kwan Cheatham, Jr. (Cincinnati, Ohio), and freshman Tavian Dunn-Martin (Huntington, W.Va.) joined Jackson and Johnson with double-digit scoring performances. Ivey poured in 13 points with a second-best eight rebounds, while Cheatham and Dunn-Martin tallied 10 points each. It was Dunn-Martin's first career start.
REGULAR SEASON TOURNAMENTS
Akron is 72-48 all-time and 51-41 in the Division I era (since 1980) in regular season tournaments and 11-13 under Groce.Â
Akron concluded the Akron Basketball Classic with a 3-0 record with wins over Lamar (79-72), Nebraska Omaha (92-84) and Alabama State (97-78). Nate Johnso was named the tournament MVP while Isaiah Gray and Amani Lyles were named to the all-tournament team.
Akron will also travel to El Paso, Texas, to take part in the Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invite from December 20-21. The Blue and Gold are set to battle Yale on the first day and will face either host UTEP or Jackson State on the second day. This will be the first time since 2016 that the Zips have appeared in the Sun Bowl Invite.
2023 saw Akron go 1-2 at the Cayman Islands Classic, posting a win over FIU before falling to Utah State and Drake.
Akron posted a 1-2 record at the 2022 Cayman Islands Classic, defeating Western Kentucky and advancing to the semifinals before falling to LSU and finishing fourth overall after falling to Nevada.Â
The Zips registered a 1-2 record in the 2021 Gulf Coast Showcase, a 3-1 record in the Global Sports Shootout, and a 1-1 mark in the DC Holiday Hoops Fest, In 2018-19, the Zips went 2-2 at the Cayman Island Classic, and in Groce's first season, Akron posted an 0-3 mark at the 2018 Diamond Head Classic. Akron has posted multiple wins in 15 of the last 18 in-season tournaments, including four championships. The Zips won two tournaments in 2016-17, the Savannah Invitational (4-0) and the Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invitational (2-0). In 2015-16, Akron went 2-0 at the Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic to claim the title.Â
In 2014-15, Akron posted a 2-1 record in the Gildan Charleston Classic following the previous tournament runs at the Puerto Rico Tip-Off (2012, 2-1), 2K Sports Classic (2011, 2-2), the Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic (2010, 3-1), the Glenn Wilkes Classic (2009, 2-2), the Legends Classic (2008, 2-2), the Top of the World Classic (2007, 2-1) and the San Juan Shootout (2005, 2-1).
WHAT'S NEXT? Â
Akron will face either host UTEP or Jackson State tomorrow at either 7 or 9 pm ET to conclude the Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invite.
