University of Akron point guard Xavier Castaneda picked up where he left off from the Zips' last game when he scored 32 points.
Castaneda, the Mid-American Conference's leading scorer, dropped in another 32 points in UA's 73-68 win over the Miami RedHawks at James A. Rhodes Arena on Tuesday. It was UA's (14-6, 6-1 in Mid-American Conference) fifth consecutive win. That's the longest active win streak in the MAC. It allows the Zips to tie Kent State for first place in the MAC after Northern Illinois upset the Golden Flashes to snap their 10-game win streak Tuesday.
Castaneda accounted for more than half of his team's points in the first half. Teammate Enrique Freeman added 13 points and eight rebounds in the game, as the Zips improved to 10-0 at home.
Mekhi Lairy led the RedHawks with 16 points.
The RedHawks (7-13, 1-6 in MAC) outshot UA, shooting 52% (24-of-46) to Akron's 43% (23-of-53).
No it wasn't a work of art, with the Zips defense coming up significantly short. Coach John Groce acknowledged as much.
"I guess the word that certainly comes to mind for me - I thought we were outplayed - we were fortunate," he said.
Be it a combination of Miami's defense or UA's shooting, the Zips started especially slow against the RedHawks.
The Zips shot 2-of-13 to start the game and fell behind by seven points before going on a 17-4 run to course correct. With a surge such as that, the assumption would be they took control of the game. Considering they shot 34% in the first half, that would be incorrect. It took consecutive 3-pointers at the end of the half from Castaneda to give them some offensive momentum. There needs to be some consistency with getting out of the gate.
"I definitely think we got to clean some things up defensively," Castaneda said. "Offensively? When we first start games, we got to come out with more intensity, things like that. I think we'll get it done, though."
Guard Greg Tribble - who made some big hustle plays late = said it's something the Zips have to change.
"I just think sometimes we just wait for teams to hit us in the mouth first and then we respond," he said. "I think we just got to work on this coming out and throwing the first punch."
Forward Enrique Freeman got into early, early foul trouble courtesy of a matchup with 6-foot-8, 305-pound Miami forward Anderson Mirambeaux four minutes into the game.
With as much as Groce tries to get Freeman and Castaneda going offensively early on, it seemed to throw the Zips off on that end of the floor. The Zips had no real offensive flow for the game despite Castaneda producing his second consecutive game of 30 or more points. Freeman eventually fouled out.
Groce said Mirambeaux was known for his fake shots and that played a role, but it was something the 6-7, 206-pound Freeman should have been cognizant of.
"'Rique fell for it twice," Groce said. "It was a point of emphasis for two days and that cost him fouling out. Now the other ones you can debate here or there. He is going to get some, it's the nature of the beast, but (you) want to try to eliminate or limit the undisciplined ones."
Castaneda said it's up to the team to compensate for such situations.
"I think it's definitely one of our threats on offense, so it's definitely more difficult when he is out, but next man up, we got to step up and make it happen," he said. "Sometimes people are going to be in foul trouble whatever it is we got to be ready."
Castaneda hitting 30 points in consecutive games is nice, but it can't come to that in every game because logically, he won't be able to keep up that pace. The Zips need more balance in their scoring, a familiar and consistent problem this season. There were some contributions from others – including freshman Kobe Mitchell, who connected on three 3-pointers in 27 minutes.
Groce gave Mitchell, a freshman, credit for the way he played.
"Kobe plays because he's trustworthy. He takes good shots; he takes good care of the ball. He's where he is supposed to be on defense. He doesn't bust plays. He's in appropriate coverage," Groce said. "So, he does what he's supposed to do. He's coachable. … He had a great impact on today's win."
Castaneda and Mitchell weren't the only Zip guards to impact the game. In the game's final two minutes, Tribble showed pure hustle, despite playing with four fouls.
He turned an offensive rebound into an assist for a dunk by Freeman and a 66-64 lead with 1:20 left in the game. Moments later he added a defensive rebound and another assist on a Sammy Hunter dunk with 29 seconds left.
"He came up with a bunch of offensive rebounds and that's what we expect from Greg," Castaneda said. "He was making big time plays down the stretch and it won us the game."
Reach George M. Thomas at gthomas@thebeaconjournal.com
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron men's basketball beats Miami led by Xavier Castaneda
