MAC Basketball Review: Still Trying To Figure Out Akron

Notes from a successful day in MAC basketball, with only one men's/women's loss combined:

Akron 88, Youngstown State 62 — The Penguins get knocked out by a second MAC team in three days, and that's just no way to treat cute little polar animals. Five Zips finished in double figures, with Nikola Cvetinovic playing seemingly the best: 14 points and seven rebounds. It's good to see him starting to play better as the season continues. Demetrius Treadwell had a team-best 15 points and Chauncey Gilliam finished with 12 points, including this point-blank shot:

So, the good news here: Akron might actually be the decent team we expected them to be. It looks like Nick Harney remains suspended but the rest of their roster is mostly healthy and that can certainly help explain three wins in five days by an average of 23.6 points, even if said teams are a combined 9-23 on the year. And the problem does seem to be a home/away split. They're perfect in the JAR but just 1-4 away from it. That win was the opener at Mississippi State, who hasn't lost since and is now ranked in the top 20. The jury remains out on this team.

IUPUI 66, Ball State 57 — Oh, you Cards. You were the only MAC team to lose today. And that's a shame — they controlled the first half but their offense stagnated to begin the second half, resulting turning a three-point Jaguars lead into 15 in less than eight minutes. Jarrod Jones led the team with 16 points on 13 shots, while Chris Bond finished with an efficient 13 points and eight rebounds.

Women's games:

OHIO 80, Xavier 75 (2OT) — The game of the day, and not a TV camera to be found. Neither team could distance the other until the Bobcats finally flourished into a double-digit lead … in the second overtime. Porsha Harris had a monster game with 29 points and 14 rebounds, while Tenishia Benson piled up free throws (14-for-14) en route to a 20 point, nine-rebound day.

Miami 75, Northeastern 55 — Kirsten Olowinski led the RedHawks with 19 points and 12 rebounds (seven offensive) in a rout of one of the CAA's weaker teams, who now fall to 1-9. An expected decisive victory.

CMU 70, Longwood 59 — The Lnacers were mostly down by about 10 points for the entire game as the Chips had one of their slower-paced games, shooting poorly but still mustering 70 points. Jas'Mine Bracey led the way with 19 points and 15 rebounds and Jordan LaDuke added 17 points on a wild 3-point shooting day (3-for-10).

WMU 67, Texas-Arlington 63 — UTA isn't much of a team right now either as they're without a Division I victory. Broncos freshman Jazmine Windham was the game-highe scorer with 18 points and nine rebounds, but Corie Buchanan was close to a triple-double with 14 rebounds, nine assists and eight rebounds.

Today's men's games:

7:00 p.m. — EMU at Radford
7:00 p.m. — Evansville at Miami (MAC Sports Livestream)
7:00 p.m. — Norfolk State at Toledo (MAC Sports Livestream)
7:00 p.m. — Winthrop at WMU (MAC Sports Livestream)
7:30 p.m. — Kent State vs. Saint Peter's in Logan, Utah (Gossner Foods Classic)
8:00 p.m. — CMU at Nebraska
8:00 p.m. — Valparaiso at NIU (MAC Sports Livestream)
8:00 p.m. — OHIO at Northern Iowa (Perhaps the mid-major game of the night)
9:00 p.m. — Buffalo at BYU

Today's women's games:

12 noon — CMU at Wright State (Wright State Invitational)
3:00 p.m. — OHIO vs. Syracuse in Las Vegas (Duel in the Desert)
7:00 p.m. — EMU at Detroit
7:00 p.m. — Buffalo at Howard