Trailing for over 35 minutes on Friday, the Kent State men’s basketball team lost its seventh game in a row to The University of Akron by a final score of 92-70 in front of a sellout home crowd.

In a game that many believed to have been a preview of the Mid-American Conference tournament, the Flashes got beaten on every front.

“Give Akron a ton of credit, they are an excellent team,” coach Rob Senderoff said. “Tonight we weren’t up for the challenge.”

Following the loss, KSU drops to 21-8 (12-4) and has been swept in the regular season by their rivals once again.

In the first five minutes of the night, the Flashes held their own, as both teams attempted to get their footing. Similar to many earlier games this season, turnovers took all the momentum from them.

Five turnovers in the first 10 minutes of the game put KSU in a hole that would prove to be insurmountable all night. Both teams ended the night with 14 turnovers, but the biggest difference was points scored off them as Akron outscored the Flashes 25-9 in that category.

As anticipated in the Wagon Wheel rivalry, physicality was a theme of the night.

High levels of physicality led to minor injuries throughout the night for KSU, including three of their star players. Both senior forward Delrecco Gillespie and graduate forward Morgan Safford suffered small injuries that took them to the bench for a moment before returning. 

Appearing to sustain a more serious injury, graduate forward Rob Whaley Jr. limped to the locker room early in the first half. Whaley Jr. returned soon after,  playing 22 minutes, the least of the Flashes’ starting five.

“Anything about injury this or injury that, take that and throw it out,” Senderoff said. “That has nothing to do with anything on the court tonight.”

Whaley Jr. missed the first matchup against Akron, and his absence was a big reason KSU was pushed around in that 69-52 loss.

Shooting woes were another glaring issue following the meeting in January after a dreadful 1-for-23 performance from 3-point range. 

“We actually played better in the first game,” Senderoff said. “It’s not for a lack of trying.”

However, shooting was actually the Flashes’ strongest area on Friday. KSU finished over 40 percent from both the field and beyond the arc.

With a good enough shooting performance to compete in most games, physicality and defense were the reasons the Flashes were blown out. Two key stats relating to physicality were won by the Zips, displaying their dominance.

Outrebounding the Flashes by 11, Akron contained the Flashes’ big men all game, holding all KSU players besides Gillespie to three or fewer boards.

Points in the paint were also controlled by the Zips, 30-24, and while not a huge difference, both Gillespie and Whaley Jr. tend to control the paint most nights.

“We got killed in turnovers, and we did not do anything of significance in the paint,” Senderoff said. “Which is where we need to be better than them.”

Shooting 14-for-28 from 3-point range and 55.2 percent from the field, the Zips had two players account for nine of their 3-pointers, and neither missed.

Senior guard Tavari Johnson shot four-for-four from three and finished with 22 points. While Johnson greatly impacted the game, graduate guard Shammah Scott also shot a perfect five-for-five from three, finishing with 23 points in eight fewer minutes.

“Some of that is they are really good players, and some of that is that we didn’t do what we needed to do defensively,” Senderoff said. “There’s a combination of all those things.”

If fate has the Flashes meet with Akron in the conference tournament once again, almost every aspect of their game will need to be improved for a chance to compete.

One positive to come out of the loss was junior guard Cian Medley becoming the Flashes single season assist leader at 186. Previously, the record was held by DeAndre Jones at 180 assists in the 2004-05 season.

Medley will have two remaining games to put more space between the previous record holders. 

Whats next

Hitting the road for the final time this season, the Flashes will head to DeKalb, Ill., to take on the Northern Illinois Huskies on Tuesday. The Huskies have only amassed four wins on the season, but KSU has had its fair share of struggles against lesser opponents this season.

Still, KSU will look to finish the season strong before heading to Cleveland for the MAC tournament.

“We have to bounce back here this week,” Senderoff said. “Then get ready for Cleveland.”

Josh Szeremet is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected]