“The University of Akron’s men’s basketball team snapped their five game winning streak after falling 70-53 to Virginia Commonwealth Saturday afternoon in Richmond, VA. The Zips (20-8 10-3 MAC) only lead against the Rams (19-7 10-6 CAA) came 24 seconds into the game when they led 2-0.”
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The University of Akron’s men’s basketball team snapped their five game winning streak after falling 70-53 to Virginia Commonwealth Saturday afternoon in Richmond, VA.

The Zips (20-8 10-3 MAC) only lead against the Rams (19-7 10-6 CAA) came 24 seconds into the game when they led 2-0.

I’m not going to make any excuses for these guys, UA head coach Keith Dambrot said in his post-game interview on Fox Sports 1350. We played four out of five on the road and it looked to me like we were just a half step off. We tried really hard.

Looking at the score sheet, the Zips didn’t really make many mistakes.

Akron rebounded the ball well and didn’t turn it over. Still, the problem was that the team just couldn’t get the ball in the bucket.

We did not shoot the ball well, Dambrot said. I thought we had good looks. I thought we were a little impatient in the first half and kind of ourselves in the second, but we just were a little bit juiceless.

Akron finished the game shooting 31.8 percent from the floor including only 20 percent from three point range.

The Zips also shot a minimal 46.7 percent from the charity stripe going 7-15.

Akron finished the first half down 34-22. The beginning of the second half seemed to be more promising for the Zips as they cut the lead to 43-39 with 13 minutes and12 seconds remaining in the game.

I thought at the beginning of the second half we were playing harder than them and got ourselves back in the game, Dambrot said.

The runs ran out for the Zips and the Rams took control of the game and never looked back after going on a 13-5 run.

When you handle the ball that well against that pressure most of the game you should be in it and we just never really got anything going, Dambrot said. You know we just didn’t quite have it, and against a team like that you better have it.

Even though the Zips were handed a double-digit loss, Dambrot is not totally displeased that they fell in an out-of-conference game.

This is not a game that if we win, we are getting in the NCAA tournament, Dambrot said. This is a game for pride and it is important for our program because we want to beat a team like this, but this is a hard place to win.

Not many win here, just ask Oklahoma and Nevada and people like that. It’s a hard place to win, but we were there, we had a chance, but we just did not shoot the ball well enough.

With the loss, the Zips have three remaining regular season games on the schedule.

Akron will next return home to face off against MAC East opponent the Buffalo Bulls.

The Bulls (16-9 8-5 MAC) are currently in third place in the MAC East and have already handed the Zips a 78-65 loss at Buffalo earlier in the season.

It will be a difficult game, Dambrot said. You know they are a funny team. They are kind of like front-runners. When things go well, they put them together. When things don’t go so well, they struggle a little bit. We have to play better than this if we are going to beat them, that’s for sure.

The game will be televised on FS Ohio.

Tip off is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Rhodes Arena.

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