Akron falls to Middle Tennessee in Turnover Fest

It wasn't a pretty game for the Akron Zips at all.

Quincy Diggs did all he could to lead the Zips to victory but it wasn't enough as the Blue Raiders came out as 80-73 victors. Diggs had 25 points in the loss but also had seven turnovers. Pat Forsythe was the only other Zip in double figures with eleven.

Shawn Jones had a career high 24 points for Middle Tennessee. He also collected twelve rebounds.

Turnovers were the key factor as Akron turned it over 18 times and Middle Tennessee had 19. The Blue Raiders seemed to always capitalize on Akron's turnovers and the Zips couldn't do the same.

Let's not count this as a bad loss, as Middle Tennessee won 28 games last year, made the NCAA Tournament and also had a thirty game home winning streak coming into this game. They're a good team, but you have to think last year's Zips team would have capitalized on all the turnovers.

Demetrius Treadwell had one of the worst games of his career, going 1-5 from the field and only had six points and three boards. Nick Harney had a bad outing as well, fouling out and only scoring three points with four turnovers.

The biggest issue for the Zips is at the point guard position. Starter Nyles Evans was only able to put up four points on 1-9 shooting, 0-7 from deep. Backup Carmelo Betancourt wasn't as bad, but only scored three on 1-5 shooting, all from three point range. This is an issue that could plague the Zips come conference time.

All in all it's not a terrible loss, but you get the feeling this really should have been a win. Akron only has one game between now and December 7th, and that one is against Division II Malone. The Zips have a lot to figure out heading into Thanksgiving break, and the race for the MAC title looks even murkier.