Eastern Hits the Road Saturday, Jan. 22, for Battle with Akron

Men's Basketball at Akron
Date	Saturday, Jan. 22 \| 7 p.m.
Venue	Akron, Ohio \| James A. Rhodes Arena
Preview Info	EMU Notes \| Media Guide.
Live Stats	Fan Stats \| Media Stats
Watch	ESPN3
Listen	WEMU (89.1 WEMU-FM) \| The Varsity Network App \| Eastern Insider Podcast
Twitter	@EMU_MBB \| @EMUAthletics

AKRON, Ohio (EMUEagles.com) –   The Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team looks to get back on track Saturday, Jan. 22, as it travels to the University of Akron. The Mid-American Conference contest is scheduled for 7 p.m. from the James A. Rhodes Arena.
    Eastern (7-9, 2-3 MAC) has dropped back-to-back games following a 56-47 home setback to Kent State University, Jan. 18. Meanwhile, the Zips (11-5, 4-2 MAC) hit 14 three-pointers, as they rolled past Bowling Green State University, 91-66, in a makeup game, Jan. 20.
    The game will be broadcast on ESPN3 with Michael Reghi (pxp), Jacki Windon (analyst) on the call. Fans can also listen to the game on WEMU (89.1 FM) and the Varsity Network app with Tom Helmer.

SPREADING THE WEALTH: EMU is one of four MAC teams to have three players ranked inside the league's top 20 for scoring. The Eagles join Ohio, Toledo, and Buffalo in accomplishing the feat. Noah Farrakhan is eighth with 16.2 points per game, Monty Scott is 17th at 13.9 pgg, and Bryce McBride ranks 20th at 12.6 points a contest.

BUCKEYE STATE BONANZA: Eastern Michigan gets to know the state of Ohio extremely well over the next few weeks. The Eagles are currently in a stretch of games that features the squad playing seven consecutive contests against teams from the Buckeye State.
   Since 1999, Eastern is just 19-78 (.196 winning percentage) in road games against the league's seven members from the state. EMU has been the most successful at Savage Arena, posting seven wins in 24 tries. Meanwhile, EMU has won just once at Kent State and only twice at Akron and Miami during that span.

WE WANT IT MORE!: After leading NCAA Division I basketball the last three weeks, Eastern Michigan now ranks fourth nationally with an average of 77.9 possessions per game. Head Coach Stan Heath's uptempo Eagles have pushed that total to 82.4 possessions per game at home.
    Last season, EMU averaged 71.3 possessions per game, ranking 164th in Division I.

TAKE SOME THEY'RE FREE!: Junior Bryce McBride made a career-best 13 free throws in the setback to Kent State, Jan. 18. Overall, McBride was a perfect 13-of-13 from the line en route to 20 points off the bench for the Green and White.
   McBride is the first EMU player since 1999 to go a perfect 13-for-13 from the line and just the ninth player to turn in a perfect day while attempting more than 10 free throws.
   Furthermore, the 13 free throws made are the most by an EMU player since Raven Lee sank 14 in a contest at SMU, Nov. 13, 2016. That day, Lee went 14-for-16 against the Mustangs in Dallas.

COLD NIGHT AGAINST THE FLASHES: Junior Bryce McBride led all scorers with 20 points off the bench against Kent State, Jan. 18. Senior Nate Scott added nine points while freshman Colin Golson Jr. helped out with six points. Overall, McBride and N. Scott carried the load for the Eagles, accounting for 62 percent of the offense.
   Eastern Michigan grabbed 32 rebounds in Tuesday's game compared to Kent State's 31, led by Freshman Mo Njie's game-high six boards. The EMU defense caused its share of mistakes, forcing 14 KSU turnovers. Those takeaways turned into 16 points on the other end of the floor.
   Additionally, EMU made 22 free throws on the night (22-of-26). It is the third time this season the Green and White made at least 20 free throws in a contest.

GETTING THE ROTATION BACK: With the national uptick in COVID, combined with usual bumps and bruises from game play, EMU has not had its full rotation of student-athletes dressed for a game in more than 48 days. The last such occurrence was against Northwood, Dec. 5, when 13 players saw action in the 79-57 non-conference victory.

BENCH BOSS(ES): Eastern has now gotten 20+ points from its bench in 13 of its 16 games this season. Additionally, EMU is averaging 24.5 points per game from its bench this season, an advantage over its opponents, which average just 20.2 points per game from their non-starters this season.

SENIOR STUDS: Monty Scott, Nate Scott, and Darion Spottsville have combined to score 34.9 percent (407-of-1,165) of the team's points this season, including 31.1 percent (116-of-373) of all Eagles scoring over the last five games.

BENCH HERO BRYCE: Junior Bryce McBride has been stellar off the bench this season, totaling 173 of his 189 points as a reserve. Eastern Michigan has seen 392 points from its non-starters this season, with McBride being the responsible party for 44.1 percent of those. Furthermore, the junior has led the team in points coming off the pine in five contests.

PLAYING THEM TIGHT: EMU has had plenty of high-leverage moments to open the year. A total of eight of its 16 games this season have been decided by six points-or-less.

BACKWARDS DAY?: While statistics are a good indicator of success and failure, there are certain cases where anomalies happen. For Eastern Michigan, that is true when it comes to the free throw line. This season, the team is an amazing 5-1 when shooting less than 70 percent at the charity stripe. Conversely, the team is 2-8 when shooting above the 70 percent mark.
    If that was not enough, how about the fact that EMU is yet to win a game when shooting 40 percent-or-better from deep (0-3), but has captured seven victories while shooting less than 40 percent-or-less from beyond the arc.

YOU ONLY GET ONE SHOT: EMU is averaging 27.1 defensive rebounds per game, which ranks fourth in the Mid-American Conference and 79th nationally. Eastern grabbed 23 defensive boards in its most recent game, versus Kent State, Jan. 18.

NOAH STOPPIN' HIM: Freshman Noah Farrakhan continues to lead the team in scoring, averaging 16.2 points per game, ranking seventh in the Mid-American Conference and 136th in the nation. Recently, Farrakhan tied his career-high of 27 points at Northern Illinois, Jan. 15.

SWAT TEAM: Eastern Michigan currently ranks fifth in the Mid-American Conference in total blocks (57) and blocks per game (3.5). EMU is led by freshman Mo Njie, who has 14 total blocks this season. Njie's one block per game is sixth in the conference.

TURNING IT (DARI)ON: Senior guard Darion Spottsville is putting together his best stretch of basketball right now. Most recently, Spottsville scored four points with four rebounds, and an assist against Kent State, Jan. 18.
   After averaging just 5.2 points per game through EMU's first 10 games of the season, Spottsville has turned it on as of late. He is putting up 10.0 points per contest in MAC play and has scored 10+ points in four of those five games.

ALL-TIME VS. AKRON: Saturday's game marks the 56th meeting between Eastern Michigan and Akron. The Zips lead the series, 32-23, which began with a 62-55 win by Akron, Feb. 3, 1968. Since 1998, Akron has dominated the series winning 27-of-36 meetings. Furthermore, the Green and White hold just a 2-15 mark inside James A. Rhodes Arena over than span.

EMU'S LAST WIN OVER AKRON: Drew Lowder had 18 points to lead five Eastern Michigan players in double figures as the Eagles beat Akron, 71-59, inside the Convocation Center, Jan. 9, 2021.
Yeikson Montero added 14 points for the Eagles. Bryce McBride, Noah Morgan and Ty Groce had 10 points each. Montero also had six rebounds.
   Loren Cristian Jackson had 10 points for the Zips as did Maishe Dailey.

EMU'S LAST WIN IN AKRON: Jay Higgins scored 17 points and Carlos Medlock had four points in the final 51 seconds, leading Eastern Michigan over Akron, 62-59, inside Rhodes Arena, Feb. 1, 2010.
   Higgins also had a late free throw, sandwiched between a layup and a pair of foul shots from Medlock in the final minute. Jimmy Conyers and Steve McNees had a layup apiece in the final 22 seconds for Akron, but it was the first time the Zips scored since taking a 55-54 lead with more than four minutes remaining.
   Higgins hit a go-ahead three-pointer to put the Eagles up 57-55 with just under two minutes left, and they led the rest of the way.
   Antonio Green scored 14 points while Justin Dobbins and Medlock added 12 apiece for the Eagles.
   Brett McKnight was the lone Akron player in double figures, scoring 13 points.

ON THE HORIZON: Eastern remains on the road for a battle with Bowling Green State University Tuesday, Jan. 25. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. from the Stroh Center in Bowling Green, Ohio. The game will be televised on ESPN+ and WEMU (89.1 FM) will air it locally.

Eastern Hits the Road Saturday, Jan. 22, for Battle with Akron

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Noah Farrakhan

Colin Golson Jr.

Ty Groce

Drew Lowder

Bryce McBride

Yeikson Montero

Noah Morgan

Mo Njie

Monty Scott

Nate Scott

Darion Spottsville

Eastern Michigan Athletics