Redshirt sophomore guard Nate Johnson could return soon to the University of Akron men's basketball rotation after suffering a broken hand in a 76-59 win over Buffalo on Jan. 12 at Rhodes Arena .
Coach John Groce said Friday night that Johnson "has been cleared" to return to the court after Akron's 83-70 win at home over Kent State .
"The hand is healed, but he's got to get some shots up with it and then he's got to get his conditioning," Groce said Friday night. "There for a while, when you have a hard cast per the doctor's instructions, you can't run. So, [Thursday] was his first workout and I thought we were going to need to bring in five to 10 oxygen tanks. So, we'll see where he is at as he continues to move forward.
"... Nate's obviously a good player and wants to be out there, but we'll see how his cardio and how the strengthening of his hand goes here over this period of time and we're going to try to bring him back in a progressive way."
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Johnson would provide additional depth down the stretch of the season for Mid-American Conference-leading Akron (20-7, 12-2). The Zips have four conference games left in the regular season: Tuesday at Ohio , Saturday against Northern Illinois at home, March 5 versus Eastern Michigan at home and March 8 at Western Michigan .
The MAC Tournament is scheduled to be played March 14-16 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland.
Johnson played in Akron 's first 16 games with 15 starts, averaging 8.4 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.3 steals. He is shooting 47.7% from the field, including 43.2% from beyond 3-point arc and 65% from the free-throw line.
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Akron senior forward Enrique Freeman has more than proven he's the MAC's top dog in the paint. The nation's leading rebounder is practically automatic in generating a double-double and is averaging 18.3 points and 13.0 rebounds in 27 starts this season.
But he's also worked hard to expand his game — and his range. It showed in the win over Kent State (13-14, 6-8) when he went 2-for-2 on 3-pointers, both in the second half, to help the Zips to finally pull away from the Golden Flashes.
"We put in a lot of work in the summer," Freeman said Friday night after scoring 24 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. "A lot of shooting when we have some free time, and now even though a lot of our time's taken up by a game, I put in a lot of work to see those 3s go in so I'm just happy they went in."
Senior Ali Ali assisted on both Freeman 3s with 5:01 and 3:21 remaining, respectively.
Speaking of shooting, senior guard Greg Tribble Jr. is another Zips starter who has put in the work to become a more reliable shooter. Already one of the MAC's top defenders on the perimeter, Tribble has worked hard to become a threat on the other end of the floor.
Tribble also benefited from seeing the work put in by former Akron All-MAC guards Xavier Castaneda and Loren Cristian Jackson to become elite shooters and scorers.
"Greg is a self-made shooter," Groce said. "You got to remember now four years ago they didn't even guard him at all. I had to have a conversation with him after his first year in our end of year meeting, 'Hey, man, I want to play you at the end of games, but if you're a guard you got to make more than 60% of your free throws. Now, we have a technical foul and I send him to the line. This is the amount of improvement these guys have made and they deserve all the credit for that."
Akron's starters accounted for 74 points against Kent State. Senior Mikal Dawson made four of Akron's eight 3-pointers. Freeman made two 3s and Tribble and senior Sammy Hunter made one 3 apiece.
Groce said he was pleased with his top reserves after multiple games of inconsistent play.
"[Redshirt freshman Ryan] Prather [Jr.] makes two free throws and has a great and-one pass to Dawson and finishes with zero turnovers," Groce said. "[Senior Kaleb] Thornton goes 1 for 2 [from the field] and I thought he did a great job when he was in the game of making the right play, reading tags — he had the skip to G in the left corner there in the second half off of pick and roll that ended up where G drew a foul there and got to the line.
"[Sophomore] Tavari [Johnson made] a couple buckets. [Junior] Shammah [Scott] didn't make shots today, but defensively on the ball I thought his engagement, his ability to rebound, he gets four rebounds and has two assists and zero turnovers in the game. And then, obviously, the guys who started for us all produced at a high level, played well. I thought we played with a lot of force, a lot of physicality and I thought we answered their runs."
Michael Beaven can be reached at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal and is on Twitter at @MBeavenABJ .
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Akron men's basketball guard Nate Johnson 'cleared' to return to court
