2018–19 Akron Zips men's basketball team

The 2018–19 Akron Zips men's basketball team represented the University of Akron during the 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Zips, led by second-year head coach John Groce, played their home games at the James A. Rhodes Arena as members of the East Division of the Mid-American Conference. They finished the season 17–16, 8–10 in MAC play to finish in fourth place in the East Division. They defeated Miami (OH) in the first round of the MAC tournament before losing in the quarterfinals to Buffalo.

2018–19 Akron Zips men's basketball
Conference	Mid-American Conference
Division	East Division
Record	17–16 (8–10 MAC)
Head coach	John Groce (2nd season)
Associate head coach	Dustin Ford
Assistant coaches	Rob Fulford Robby Pridgen
Home arena	James A. Rhodes Arena

2018–19 Mid-American Conference men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
East
No. 15 Buffalo †	16	–	2		.889			32	–	4		.889
Bowling Green	12	–	6		.667			22	–	12		.647
Kent State	11	–	7		.611			22	–	11		.667
Akron	8	–	10		.444			17	–	16		.515
Miami (OH)	7	–	11		.389			15	–	17		.469
Ohio	6	–	12		.333			14	–	17		.452
West
Toledo	13	–	5		.722			25	–	8		.758
Central Michigan	10	–	8		.556			23	–	12		.657
Eastern Michigan	9	–	9		.500			15	–	17		.469
Northern Illinois	8	–	10		.444			17	–	17		.500
Ball State	6	–	12		.333			16	–	17		.485
Western Michigan	2	–	16		.111			8	–	24		.250
† 2019 MAC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

Previous season

The Zips finished the 2017–18 season 14–18, 6–12 in MAC play to finish in last place in the East Division. In the MAC tournament, they defeated Western Michigan in the first round before losing to Eastern Michigan in the quarterfinals.

Offseason

Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Reason for departure
Malcon Duvivier	4	G	6'2"	210	RS Senior	Toronto, ON	Graduated
Craig Eurbanks	5	G	6'4"	200	Senior	Cleveland, OH	Walk-on; graduated
Virshon Cotton	11	G	6'1"	165	Freshman	Milwaukee, WI	Transferred to LIU Brooklyn
Sina Gbadebo	14	G	6'1"	190	Freshman	Windsor, ON	Walk-on; left the team for personal reasons
Eric Parrish	20	G	6'6"	195	Freshman	Cypress, TX	Transferred to Bossier Parish CC
Torrey Patton	24	G	6'4"	195	Freshman	Trotwood, OH	Transferred to Indian Hills CC

Incoming Transfers

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Previous School
Tyler Cheese	4	G	6'4"	190	Junior	Albany, GA	Junior college transferred to Florida SouthWestern State College
LePear Toles	5	G	6'6"		Sophomore	Canton, OH	Junior college transferred from State Fair Community College
Channel Banks	11	G	6'4"	185	Sophomore	Las Vegas, NV	Junior college transferred from Sheridan College
Jeremy Roscoe	13	G	6'3"		RS Sophomore	Chicago, IL	Junior college transferred from Chipola College
Xeryius Williams	20	F	6'9"	205	Senior	Huber Heights, OH	Transferred from Dayton. Under NCAA transfer rules, Williams will have to sit out for the 2018–19 season. Will have one year of remaining eligibility.
Khadim Gueye	50	F	7'0"	248	Junior	Dakar, Senegal	Transferred from South Carolina. Under NCAA transfer rules, Gueye will have to sit out for the 2018–19 season. Will have two years of remaining eligibility.

Recruiting class of 2018

There was no recruiting class for Akron in 2018.

Recruiting class of 2019

US college sports recruiting information for 2019 recruits
Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Mikal Dawson SG	Huntington, WV	Huntington Prep School	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Aug 26, 2018
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: NR
Ali Ali SF	Kendallville, IN	East Noble High School	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Aug 29, 2018
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: NR
Camron Reece PF	Oakland, CA	Sheridan College	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	Sep 30, 2018
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: NR
Overall recruiting rankings:
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2019 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved November 2, 2018.

Roster

2018–19 Akron Zips men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown G 0 Jimond Ivey 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Sr Glenville Cleveland, OH G 1 Loren Cristian Jackson 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) 160 lb (73 kg) RS So Victory Rock Prep Long Beach State Chicago, IL F 3 Daniel Utomi 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Jr Westside Houston, TX G 4 Tyler Cheese 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Jr Albany Florida Southwestern State Albany, GA G 5 LePear Toles 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 195 lb (88 kg) So Canton McKinley State Fair CC Canton, OH C 10 Deng Riak 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 225 lb (102 kg) RS Jr Victory Rock Prep East Carolina Melbourne, Australia G 11 Channel Banks 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 186 lb (84 kg) Jr Hillcrest Prep Sheridan College Las Vegas, NV G 12 Marquelle Mcintyre (W) 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Jr Greensboro Day School Greensboro, NC G 13 Jeremy Roscoe 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Jr Uplift Panola College Chicago, IL G 14 Scott Walter (W) 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Fr St. Vincent-St. Mary Akron, OH F 20 Xeyrius Williams  6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Sr Wayne Dayton Huber Heights, OH F 22 Emmanuel Plojakpoke 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Jr Cypress Springs Houston, TX F 23 Jaden Sayles 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 235 lb (107 kg) So Sycamore Cincinnati, OH G 24 Jake Fischer (W) 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Fr Bishop Harley Columbus, OH G 25 Lucas Smith (W) 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Sr Bellevue East Iowa Lakes CC Omaha, NE C 44 Mark Kostelac 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 250 lb (113 kg) So Notre Dame Cathedral Latin Cleveland, OH F 50 Khadim Gueye  7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 245 lb (111 kg) Jr Victory Rock Prep South Carolina Dakar, Senegal	Head coach John Groce (Taylor) Assistant coach(es) Dustin Ford (Ohio) Rob Fulford (Marshall) Robby Pridgen (Roanoke) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-conference regular season
Nov 6, 2018* 7:00 pm, ESPN3		Cedarville	W 70–50	1–0	James A. Rhodes Arena (2,261) Akron, OH
Nov 10, 2018* 4:30 pm, ESPN3		vs. Youngstown State Northeast Ohio Coaches vs. Cancer	W 98–69	2–0	Quicken Loans Arena  Cleveland, OH
Nov 16, 2018* 7:00 pm, ESPN3		Chicago State Cayman Islands Classic on-campus game	W 87–46	3–0	James A. Rhodes Arena (2,285) Akron, OH
Nov 19, 2018* 11:00 am, Stadium		vs. No. 16 Clemson Cayman Islands Classic Quarterfinals	L 69–72	3–1	John Gray Gymnasium (1,050) George Town, Cayman Islands
Nov 20, 2018* 12:00 pm, Stadium		vs. Illinois State Cayman Islands Classic consolation semi finals	L 68–73	3–2	John Gray Gymnasium (667) George Town, Cayman Islands
Nov 21, 2018* 10:00 am, Stadium		vs. St. Bonaventure Cayman Islands Classic 7th place game	W 61–49	4–2	John Gray Gymnasium (566) George Town, Cayman Islands
Nov 28, 2018* 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Alabama State	W 86–54	5–2	James A. Rhodes Arena (2,294) Akron, OH
Dec 1, 2018* 5:00 pm, ESPN3		Detroit Mercy	W 71–59	6–2	James A. Rhodes Arena (2,364) Akron, OH
Dec 5, 2018* 7:00 pm		at Purdue Fort Wayne	L 65–68	6–3	Memorial Coliseum (1,274) Fort Wayne, IN
Dec 15, 2018* 2:00 pm, ESPN+		Marshall	L 74–75	6–4	James A. Rhodes Arena (2,748) Akron, OH
Dec 18, 2018* 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Tennessee State	W 82–60	7–4	James A. Rhodes Arena (2,151) Akron, OH
Dec 22, 2018* 4:00 pm, ESPN3		at No. 6 Nevada	L 62–68	7–5	Lawlor Events Center (10,825) Reno, NV
Dec 30, 2018* 2:00 pm, ESPN3		Carnegie Mellon	W 82–55	8–5	James A. Rhodes Arena (2,446) Akron, OH
MAC regular season
Jan 5, 2019 2:00 pm, ESPN3		Western Michigan	W 56–48	9–5 (1–0)	James A. Rhodes Arena (2,276) Akron, OH
Jan 8, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN+		at Central Michigan	L 86–88 OT	9–6 (1–1)	McGuirk Arena (2,126) Mount Pleasant, MI
Jan 12, 2019 3:30 pm, ESPN+		at Northern Illinois	L 56–73	9–7 (1–2)	Convocation Center (906) DeKalb, IL
Jan 15, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Eastern Michigan	W 51–49	10–7 (2–2)	James A. Rhodes Arena (2,334) Akron, OH
Jan 19, 2019 3:30 pm, ESPN3		at Miami (OH)	L 61–68	10–8 (2–3)	Millett Hall (1,202) Oxford, OH
Jan 22, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Central Michigan	W 70–67	11–8 (3–3)	James A. Rhodes Arena (2,254) Akron, OH
Jan 26, 2019 5:00 pm, ESPN+		Northern Illinois	W 67–65	12–8 (4–3)	James A. Rhodes Arena (2,996) Akron, OH
Feb 2, 2019 3:30 pm, ESPN3		at Ohio	W 65–53	13–8 (5–3)	Convocation Center (7,887) Athens, OH
Feb 5, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN+		at Toledo	L 52–63	13–9 (5–4)	Savage Arena (3,895) Toledo, OH
Feb 8, 2019 9:00 pm, ESPNU		Kent State	W 72–53	14–9 (6–4)	James A. Rhodes Arena (4,289) Akron, OH
Feb 12, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN+		No. 25 Buffalo	L 70–76	14–10 (6–5)	James A. Rhodes Arena (2,646) Akron, OH
Feb 16, 2019 2:00 p.m., ESPN3		at Ball State	L 56–57	14–11 (6–6)	Worthen Arena (4,577) Muncie, IN
Feb 19, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN+		at Bowling Green	L 69–73	14–12 (6–7)	Stroh Center (1,954) Bowling Green, OH
Feb 23, 2019 2:00 pm, ESPN+		Miami (OH)	W 70–58	15–12 (7–7)	James A. Rhodes Arena (3,026) Akron, OH
Feb 26, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN+		at No. 21 Buffalo	L 64–77	15–13 (7–8)	Alumni Arena (5,789) Amherst, NY
Mar 2, 2019 2:00 pm, ESPN+		Ohio	L 49–73	15–14 (7–9)	James A. Rhodes Arena (2,714) Akron, OH
Mar 5, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Bowling Green	W 91–67	16–14 (8–9)	James A. Rhodes Arena (2,902) Akron, OH
Mar 8, 2019 6:30 pm, ESPN+		at Kent State	L 65-68	16–15 (8–10)	MAC Center (6,168) Kent, OH
MAC tournament
Mar 11, 2019 8:00 pm, ESPN+	(8)	(9) Miami (OH) First round	W 80–51	17–15	James A. Rhodes Arena (2,376) Akron, OH
Mar 14, 2019 12:00 pm, ESPN+	(8)	vs. (1) No. 18 Buffalo Quarterfinals	L 46–82	17–16	Quicken Loans Arena (2,499) Cleveland, OH
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time.

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