The Akron Zips (15-7, 5-3 MAC) will look to start up a new winning streak tonight when they take on Northern Illinois (8-12, 4-4 MAC) in the final game of their five-game homestand. Fans can see the game live at Rhodes Arena at 7 p.m. tonight or listen on 1350 AM.
Television: None
Webcast/Audio Stream/Live Statistics: Available at GoZips.com – webcast and audio stream through subscription, live statistics free of charge.
Radio: Akron-ISP Sports Network – SportsRadio 1350 AM (WARF) in Akron and on the Internet at GoZips.com. Steve French (play-by-play) and Joe Dunn (analyst) (6:30 p.m. ET airtime).
Akron Coach Keith Dambrot (Akron '82):
Is in his sixth season at the helm for the Zips, maintaining a 130-58 (.691) mark in that time. Both his win total and win percentage rank third all-time in program history (178 wins is second). Dambrot is 238-128 (.650) in his 12th season as a collegiate head coach. He is 2-3 all-time versus Northern Illinois.
The Series: Akron leads the all-time series, 17-8, but Northern Illinois has claimed back-to-back meetings. The Huskies scored an 83-79 win last season in DeKalb (Feb. 15, 2009) and an 88-78 victory during their last visit to Rhodes Arena (Feb. 12, 2008) – which snapped the Zips' 22-game home win streak. The Zips have won eight of the last nine meetings in the series held in Akron.
Up Next: Akron begins a two-game road swing on Saturday (Feb. 6) at Ball State. Tip off is set for noon ET for the FS Ohio telecast. BSU leads the all-time series with UA, 15-13, but the Zips have won five straight. UA posted a 70-61 win during its last visit to Muncie (Feb. 9, 2008).
Streaks, Storylines, Sidebars...
Akron, which sits in a second-place tie with Miami (Ohio) in the MAC East Division standings, completes a three-game five-day homestand on Wednesday. The Zips will close out an eight-day stretch in which they play four times on Saturday at Ball State.
The Zips have won a MAC-best-tying 15 games (MAC East leader Kent State is also 15-7 overall) and are the only team in the league to have ended its non-conference schedule with 10 wins (10-4).
UA's 62-59 loss to Eastern Michigan on Monday brought its two-game win streak to an end and also closed its three-game win streak at home.
At the halfway point of its cross-divisional schedule, Akron is 2-1 versus opponents from the MAC's West Division (won 79-70 at Western Michigan on Jan. 27 and 59-45 versus Toledo on Jan. 30). The Zips went 5-1 against the West last season (with the lone loss coming at Northern Illinois).
The Zips have won two of their last three and three of their last five games, and are 15-5 after opening the season 0-2. UA's early season rally included a season-long, six-game win streak that tied for the best victory stretch by a MAC team thus far this season (Northern Illinois had a six-game streak end on Jan. 23). • Akron is 74-11 at Rhodes Arena under sixth-year head coach Keith Dambrot (10-3 overall, 3-1 MAC this season). The Zips have won 35 of their last 40 MAC home games and 65 of the last 75 overall outings on their home floor. UA went 11-3 (6-2 MAC) at home in 2008-09.
Dating to last season, the Zips have won nine of their last 11 home games against MAC opponents. The losses in that span came on Monday versus Eastern Michigan and against Bowling Green on March 1, 2009 (50-46).
The Zips are ranked No. 14 in the latest CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 (comes out each Monday throughout the season). The squad was ranked No. 8 in the poll's preseason edition and was listing No. 20 last week.
Akron leads the league in field goal percentage (44.3 percent) and scoring margin (+7.4); while also ranking second in scoring defense (allowing 62.2 ppg, among top 50 nationally) and field goal percentage defense (allowing 40.4 percent).
UA has held nine opponents to 59 or fewer points this season (going 9-0 in those games) and has kept three league foes to under 50 points (topped Miami 69-49 on Jan. 20, Bowling Green 71-45 on Jan. 9 and Toledo 59-45 on Jan. 30). Six Zips' opponents have scored over 70 points (UA is 2-4 in those games).
The Zips have held MAC opponents under 55 points in nine of their last 11 home games (the exceptions came in an 87-63 win versus Western Michigan on Feb. 8, 2009 and in Monday's loss to Eastern Michigan). Akron is 9-2 in those contests (also lost to Bowling Green 50-46 on March 1, 2009).
Akron has held the advantage on the boards 16 times this season, but did so for the first time in four games on Monday against Eastern Michigan (31-28 margin). The Zips are 11-5 this season when they outrebound an opponent and 6-0 when doing so by double digits.
The Zips learned on Monday that they will play at VCU on Feb. 20 for ESPNU BracketBusters. That contest will be carried by ESPNU at 4 p.m. ET.
UA has one player averaging double-figure points (Brett McKnight - 10.0 ppg, 23rd in MAC), while four are averaging 8.0 points per game or higher. Jimmy Conyers (9.1 ppg), Chris McKnight (8.2 ppg), Anthony "Humpty" Hitchens (8.0 ppg) and Steve McNees (8.0 ppg) round out the top five.
Akron, the defending MAC Tournament champion, was picked to finish first in the MAC's East Division and was also selected as the league's overall preseason favorite (19 first-place votes) and conference tournament winner (19 votes) in a poll of league media.
