Akron has already reached a milestone, becoming the first team to win the Mid-American Conference Tournament three straight years.
The Zips have their sights set on another goal — an NCAA Tournament victory.
In seven previous March Madness appearances, Akron has yet to reach the second round. The Zips (29-5) are the 12th seed in the Midwest Region and will face Texas Tech on Friday in Tampa, Florida.
“We’re ready to take that next step, and we take pride
in that. We’re not going to back down from anybody. We want to make history again,” said senior forward Amani Lyles, who is averaging 14.6 points and 8.0 rebounds per game.
This is only the second time the Zips have been seeded higher than 13th. They were a 12 seed in 2013, when they lost 88-42 to VCU in the first round.
Coach John Groce's team received little national attention this season while another MAC squad, Miami (Ohio), became the fifth Division I men’s program this century to go undefeated.
The Zips had only one loss in MAC play, a three-point defeat to the RedHawks on Jan. 3. Akron has won 19 of 20 games since, matching St. John’s and Duke for the best record in Division I over that span.
Akron’s only loss during that stretch was to Troy, which also made the March Madness field.
The Zips enter the tournament with plenty of experience, including five seniors or graduate students.
Tavari Johnson and Lyles were first-team All-MAC selections. Johnson led the conference in scoring at 20.1 points per game and was fifth in assists (5.0). Shammah Scott, the conference’s sixth man of the year, hit the go-ahead 3-pointer in Saturday’s 79-76 victory over Toledo in the MAC championship game.
“We’re in this position for a reason. We just have to stay together and play hard,” Scott said.
Akron ranks seventh in Division I in scoring at 88.4 points per game, and ninth in 3-pointers, averaging 10.9 per game.
Groce, the Zips' ninth-year coach, was at Ohio from 2008-12 and took the Bobcats to the Sweet 16 in 2012. They were the last MAC team to get that far.
“You’ve got to have a good enough team. I think we do. Two, you’ve got to be prepared, and I can assure you we’re going to be really, really prepared. And three, you’ve got to get a little fortunate,” Groce said. “It’s small. We understand that. We worry about controlling what we can control. Whatever gets thrown our way, we respond to it appropriately.
“In some ways, the past is something we’ve had a chance to learn, and the experience that we’ve gained from that can certainly be applied to an extent.”
Akron arguably got a favorable draw. At least one 12 seed has pulled off a first-round upset in 34 of the 40 tournaments since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
A 12 seed has won two games in each of the last two tournaments.
Texas Tech (22-10) has gone 3-4 since All-America guard JT Toppin tore the ACL in his right knee against Arizona State on Feb. 17. The junior was the only player in Division I ranked in the top 10 in points (21.8) and rebounds (10.8) per game.
Groce, though, thinks the Red Raiders still have plenty of firepower. Sophomore Christian Anderson is third in the country in assists (7.6 per game), and senior Donovan Atwell made a program record 124 3-pointers while shooting 45.4% from beyond the arc.
“They’re potent offensively and getting high-level shooting contributions from everybody with their depth,” Groce said Tuesday. “They’ve been playing eight to nine (players) since the injury to Toppin and have done an unbelievable job of adjusting after that injury. That’s not easy.”
The winner of Akron-Texas Tech will face either Alabama or Hofstra on Sunday.
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AP March Madness: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
