Who’s Playing
Akron Zips @ Princeton Tigers
Current Records: Akron 7-4, Princeton 9-4
How To Watch
What to Know
The Princeton Tigers and the Akron Zips will round out the year against one another at 1:00 p.m. ET on Monday at at L. Stockwell Jadwin Gymnasium. The Tigers are strutting in with some offensive muscle as they’ve averaged 76.9 points per game this season.
Princeton’s offense and defense might be a bit winded after their high-scoring matchup with Rutgers on Saturday. Princeton skirted by Rutgers 83-82 thanks to a clutch jump shot from Caden Pierce with 5 seconds left in the second quarter. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Tigers.
Princeton relied on the efforts of Pierce, who dropped a double-double on 21 points and 14 rebounds, and Xaivian Lee, who dropped a double-double on 21 points and 11 assists. The dominant performance gave Lee a new career-high in assists.
Princeton smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 19 offensive rebounds. That’s a new trend for them: they were averaging 7.8 offensive rebounds per game earlier this season, but in their last five contests they’ve averaged 12.2.
Meanwhile, Akron didn’t have too much trouble with Jackson State on Saturday as they won 68-50.
Akron got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was James Okonkwo out in front who dropped a double-double on ten points and 16 rebounds. Okonkwo’s performance made up for a slower match against Yale on Friday. The team also got some help courtesy of Shammah Scott, who scored 12 points in addition to six rebounds.
Princeton has been performing well recently as they’ve won five of their last six matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 9-4 record this season. As for Akron, their victory ended a five-game drought on the road dating back to last season and puts them at 7-4.
Keep an eye on the arc in Monday’s game: Princeton has made nailing deep shots look easy this year this season, having averaged 10.7 threes per game. However, it’s not like Akron struggles in that department as they’ve been averaging 11.5. Given these competing strengths, it’ll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Princeton came out on top in a nail-biter against Akron in their previous matchup back in December of 2017, sneaking past 64-62. Will Princeton repeat their success, or does Akron have a better game plan this time around? We’ll find out soon enough.
Series History
Princeton won the only game these two teams have played in the last 7 years.
- Dec 23, 2017 – Princeton 64 vs. Akron 62
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