The Akron Zips men's basketball team is set to play in the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time Thursday when the Zips meet Creighton in the first round. Leading the way for the Zips is Mid-American Conference Player of the Year Enrique Freeman.
Freeman stepped up big time in the Zips' run to the MAC Tournament title , including a his record-setting performance vs. Ohio in the semifinals. It's all part of his remarkable journey within the program from unrecruited to being a two-time MAC Tournament MVP .
Here's what college basketball fans should know about the Zips' star as he makes his second appearance in March Madness:
Akron lists Freeman at 6-foot-7 and 206 pounds.
Freeman averages 18.6 points, 12.9 rebounds 1.8 blocks and 1.6 assists per game. His 1,391 career rebounds are an Akron record. He is the school's third all-time leading scorer with 1,822 points.
Freeman earned Mid-American Conference Player of the Year this season, the fourth Zip to win that award. He was the MAC Player of the Week eight times this season and then won the MAC Tournament MVP for the second time in his career last weekend. He earned a spot on the All-MAC Defensive Team each of the last four years. Earlier this week, the Associated Press named him an honorable mention All-American.
Freeman is a Cleveland native, who attended St. Martin De Porres High School , a Catholic college-preparatory high school. The school, according to its website, opened its doors to student in September 2004. It is located at 6202 St. Clair Avenue in Cleveland. The basketball program was OHSAA Division III when Freeman attended and earned first-team All-Lake Effect Conference as a 6-foot-3 senior who averaged a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds per game along with 4.6 assists per game
Freeman enrolled at Akron in 2018 after earning an academic scholarship. A year later, he attended an open walk-on tryout at Rhodes Arena putting on quite a show to catch the eye of Akron coach John Groce and his staff. He soon was on the team and played in seven games that year, totaling five points and four rebounds in 13 minutes. The legend of his rise from walk-on to being named an All-American on Tuesday was just beginning.
More on Enrique Freeman's walk-on story: From walk-on to MAC Player of the Year, Enrique Freeman's March Madness origin story
Freeman really broke through as a redshirt sophomore during the 2021-22 season, earning MAC Tournament MVP honors for the first time in leading the Zips to the league title and spot in the NCAA Tournament . He finished the season ranked No. 1 the NCAA in by shooting 66.5% from the field (175 of 263), while also ranking No. 4 in total rebounds (367), No. 6 in rebounds per game (10.8), No. 8 in double-doubles (18) and No. 9 defensive rebounds per game (7.53). He was one of 13 players in the NCAA to average a double-double in points (13.2) and rebounds (10.8) for the season in earning second-team All-MAC and being named 2022 MAC Defensive Player of the Year. Appropriately, he ended that season with a double-double, 14 points and 10 rebounds, in the 57-53 loss to UCLA in the first round of the NCAA Tournament . That's the only double-double by a Zip in an NCAA Tournament game.
After eclipsing the 1,000-point during his junior season and earning first-team All-MAC as he led the league in rebounding (11.2), Freeman took his work on the glass to an even higher level this season. He enters the postseason as the NCAA Division I rebounding leader at 12.9 per game and with 439 total rebounds. He will be the first Akron Zip to lead the nation in rebounding if he finishes up at No. 1. The only other Akron's men's basketball player to lead the nation in a major statistical category was Joe Jakubick, who was the nation's leading scorer in 1984 (30.1 points per game). Freeman will be the first MAC player to lead the nation in rebounding since Brandon Hunter in 2002-03 (12.6). Akron basketball fans also might remember former St. Vincent-St. Mary High School star Jerome Lane, a year before he famously broke a backboard with the "Send it in, Jerome!" dunk , leading the nation in rebounding in 1986-87 (13.5) for the Pitt Panthers.
Freeman enters the NCAA Tournament with 72 career double-doubles in 131 games. His 30 double-doubles this year lead the nation and leave him one shy of tying Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer David Robinson's NCAA Division I record for the most in one season. Freeman has scored in double-figures in an Akron-record 48 consecutive games entering Thursday. In those 48 games, he has recorded 40 double-doubles.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Enrique Freeman is Akron's star. Who is the NCAA Tournament standout?
