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Akron basketball upset bid falls short against UCLA in NCAA Tournament
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- Akron basketball upset bid falls short against UCLA in NCAA Tournament
PORTLAND — The Zips' confidence was fueled by eight consecutive victories, including two upsets to win the Mid-American Conference Tournament .
Their nerves were replaced by excitement for the big moment for the University of Akron and its men's basketball program, making its fifth NCAA Tournament appearance.
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The 13th-seeded Zips led most of the way in a bitter battle with fourth-seeded UCLA in an East Regional game at the Moda Center on Thursday night before losing 57-53.
The Zips (24-10) may not have been aware, but bracket-busting outcomes preceded their game. Second-seeded Kentucky was upset by St. Peter's, No. 5 seeds Iowa and Connecticut lost to Richmond and New Mexico State, respectively, and No. 6 Colorado State lost to Michigan.
The Zips nearly joined those surprising teams, but it was UCLA (26-7) that advanced to meet fifth-seeded St. Mary's, an 82-53 winner over 12th-seeded Indiana.
Junior guard Xavier Castaneda led UA with 18 points, six rebounds and one assist, and sophomore forward Enrique Freeman added 14 points, 10 rebounds and an assist before fouling out.
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Redshirt junior guard Tyger Campbell scored 10 of his 16 points in the second half to pace the Bruins and added five assists. Junior guard Jaime Jaquez Jr. added 15 points, nine rebounds and six assists. UA held UCLA's leading scorer, junior guard Johnny Juzang, to nine points, five rebounds and two assists. Juzang came in averaging 16 points per game.
Takeaways from the Zips' heartbreaking loss:
Zips feel the disappointment
The Zips held the lead for 27:06, the Bruins 10:27. But that was little consolation as UA took the 2021 Final Four team with all its starters back down to the wire.
"I think in the locker room, when you put what you put into this like we do, all of us together, players, staff, support staff, it's a total team effort," UA coach John Groce said. "There's a lot of people involved in this, from our administration to support staff, staff and players. Just a ton of people that are involved to do something like we were able to do to have the opportunity to compete today.
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"When you do that, it hurts. It's supposed to hurt because you invest a lot. You make a heck of a commitment across the board. I think there was a sense of disappointment. I told them that was normal. I'd be disappointed if they weren't disappointed. We believed that we could win the game. We prepared that way, and just fell a few points short."
UA played 'spectacular' defense; Bruins coach says tenacious Zips were the best they've faced all year
The Bruins came in shooting 45% from the field, the Zips held them to 35.2% with their swarming, physical style. Groce realized early that the Zips couldn't keep up with the Bruins in a fast-paced game, so he slowed his team down on offense, which allowed them to expend more energy on defense.
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"Defensively, I thought we were spectacular," Groce said.
UCLA coach Mick Cronin, who grew up in Cincinnati, shared what he said to Groce after the game.
"I told him they were probably the most well-coached, best defensive team we've played all year," Cronin said. "Their point guard [Castaneda] was so tough, all their guys were so tough, the smallest guys on our post guys, and we couldn't get the ball inside. It's just a credit to the coaching staff at Akron, their kids, their toughness. We were well aware of how hard this game was going to be."
From tryout player to starter: 'I am here and it feels great': Enrique Freeman leads Akron into NCAA Tournament
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Freeman wasn't as enthused.
"I think our defense was pretty good tonight, and as a team we worked together to try to make something happen great," Freeman said.
Tyger Campbell saves the Bruins
As UCLA rallied from an eight-point deficit with 7:54 remaining, what likely stuck in Freeman's mind were the eight consecutive points scored by Campbell in the final 2:51. Campbell made a corner 3-pointer with 2:51 left that cut the Zips' lead to 51-50. After Freeman was called for an offensive foul that sent him to the bench, Campbell made a jumper. Castaneda missed a 3, and Campbell ended his surge with another 3-pointer with 1:20 to play for a 55-51 lead.
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"We're on the same page," Cronin said of he and Campbell. "Tonight we had to be. We had to make a lot of adjustments.
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"Credit to John, his team. They took so many things away from us. We were searching. Tyger and I were searching together trying to figure some things out, and I thought keeping the ball in the middle of the floor in his hands as much as I could was the answer. It worked. And John tried to start trapping him, so we tried to start slipping."
Breaks didn't go the Zips way down the stretch
When Zips sophomore guard Greg Tribble hit a layup as he fell and was fouled, converting the and-one to give the Zips a 47-39 lead, it felt like a moment of destiny. But calls in the final four minutes didn't go UA's way.
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Perhaps the one that drew the strongest reaction from the Zips bench and staffers was a blocking foul on 7-foot freshman center Aziz Bandaogo against Jaquez with 3:55 remaining. UA was already in a scoring drought of 2:07. Out of a television timeout, it took UCLA only a couple seconds before Juzang made a jumper off a Campbell assist to cut the deficit to 49-47.
Freeman's offensive foul that resulted in a turnover with 2:26 left was another.
"Part of me was a little disappointed fouling out, and then part of me also knew I could trust in my team and to cheer them on to get it done," Freeman said.
One more moment Zips fans might dispute was a no-call on a missed layup by Ali Ali with four seconds to go.
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"We had our chances," Groce said. "Offensively we had some empty possessions here and there that we'll probably take a look at at some point in time and wish we could have back.
"That's the way it works. I'm proud of our guys for how hard they fought. I thought we were super physical and played together. As X said after the game in the locker room, 'We win together, we lose together.'"
"I thought we had a chance to win it. I thought in some ways and aspects deserved to win it. But that's not the way it works sometimes. You obviously give them credit. I thought a couple guys stepped up for them and made big shots late in the game. I thought Campbell's 3 was huge."
UCLA was determined not to succumb to Kentucky's fate
Kentucky was upset 85-79 in overtime and the game was shown live on the Jumbotron during timeouts. The Bruins were paying attention.
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"That's March for you right there," Jaquez said. "It happens every year, teams get upset. And we were watching that game thinking to ourselves, 'That can't be us tonight.'
"All props to Akron. They played great, played a great game, great team. But we just knew we didn't want to be the ones getting upset tonight, and we're looking forward to bigger things."
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Zips at www.beaconjournal.com/zips. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: March Madness: Akron Zips fall to UCLA Bruins in NCAA Tournament
