During the first 10 minutes of the second half Tuesday night at Rhodes Arena, the University of Akron Zips showed why they are built not just to win the Mid-American Conference Tournament, but to win in the NCAA Tournament.
Two monstrous slams by Jimond Ivey. A beautiful turnaround jumper by Kwan Cheatham. Aggressive moves to the basket by Isaiah “Big Dog” Johnson for layups. Two mid-range shots by Noah Robotham. A block and two dunks by Emmanuel Olojakpoke.
It may have been the best 10 minutes of basketball I’ve seen the Zips play, and that goes back to 1999.
Using a crowd-pleasing 26-8 blitz, UA captured a convincing 83-68 victory over Ohio University and extended its home winning streak to 26 games, third longest in the nation.
It was easy to see what prompted Zips coach Keith Dambrot to say his team has “good upside.”
It was easy to see why Cheatham, one of two senior starters along with Johnson, believes the Zips can be “very special.”
But with over six weeks remaining before the MAC Tournament, there is more to be done.
Areas to improve
The Zips (15-3, 5-0) are among the league — and national — leaders offensively, but at the bottom of the conference statistics defensively. They are untested against zone defenses and athletic big men. They’re small on the perimeter, a challenge when they don’t have the ball.
Dambrot must find more threats in the low post than just Johnson, who at 6-foot-10 and 295 pounds will wear down over the span of three games in three days at Quicken Loans Arena. Freshmen Olojakpoke, Daniel Utomi and Tavian Dunn-Martin show flashes of dazzling promise, but must continue to develop, along with Michael Hughes, sidelined with an injury against the Bobcats.
Pieces in place
All the pieces seem to be there for UA to accomplish its goal of winning an NCAA game. That dream, unrealized in four previous appearances in the program’s Division I era, dates back to 1986 under former coach Bob Huggins.
But a roster full of potential guarantees nothing in March. The Zips have had players with such skills before and were unable to put it all together in the month that means most.
While Dambrot called Olojakpoke a “mini-Zeke Marshall” in reference to his shot-blocking ability, the UA coach admitted the 6-foot-8 redshirt freshman had to be taught from scratch.
The Zips have had better big men than Johnson, most recently Demetrius Treadwell.
While Josh Williams, Antino Jackson, Cheatham, Robotham and Dunn-Martin have all made over 20 3-pointers thus far, the Zips have had a stable of shooters before. Reggie McAdams and Jake Kretzer led the way in that regard for what seemed like longer than four years.
They’ve had a player like Ivey in Deji Ibitayo, although Ivey seems capable of much greater feats than Ibitayo accomplished during the 2013 NCAA season.
Moving team forward
But 10 minutes against the Bobcats showed the Zips may possess a combination of explosiveness, athleticism, 3-point marksmanship and interior presence never seen in Dambrot’s 13 seasons at UA.
Dambrot is in the midst of what may be his most masterful coaching job. I thought the Zips would miss McAdams and Kretzer more than they have. They’ve always gone eight or nine deep, but never been this young off the bench. Dambrot has to be mindful of not running Johnson into the ground too early. He’s kept the team moving forward despite a maddening penchant for living on the edge, with seven single-digit victories, including three this month.
Better defense is key
But all that UA wants is still within reach if the team continues to improve.
“That’s going to be the key for us — how good we can get defensively,” Dambrot said. “Our numbers defensively right now are the worst we’ve ever had here. But our offensive numbers are the best we’ve ever had. I think I can fix that part because that’s how I’m built.
“But it’s going to take effort from our team and not being satisfied with wins that aren’t great wins. They’ve got to be better if we’re going to win in the NCAA Tournament or win the MAC Tournament.”
Dambrot knows the burden is not all on the players, but on him, too. Something happened during what he called “a dysfunctional locker room at halftime” against Ohio and the Zips channeled what sounded like some angry outbursts from coach and players into 10 marvelous minutes.
“That’s one thing about having an experienced coach, you still know you have warts,” Dambrot said. “You know your breath stinks. You’ve got to put those breath mints in and fix your problems or you can be fooled by your success.”
Dambrot won’t be fooled. If he can keep the Zips from becoming satisfied with just getting by, they may be breathing much longer in March than ever before.
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read her blog at www.ohio.com/marla. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.