# 2016–17 Akron Zips men's basketball team

The 2016–17 Akron Zips men's basketball team represented the University of Akron during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Zips, led by 13th-year head coach Keith Dambrot, played their home games at the James A. Rhodes Arena as members of the East Division of the Mid-American Conference. They finished the season 27–9, 14–4 in MAC play to win the MAC East Division and MAC overall regular season championship. They defeated Eastern Michigan and Ball State to advance to the championship game of the MAC tournament where they lost to Kent State, losing in the championship game for the second consecutive year. As a regular season conference champion who failed to win their conference tournament, they received an automatic bid to the National Invitation Tournament where they defeated Houston in the first round before losing to Texas–Arlington.
Following the season, head coach Keith Dambrot left the school on March 30, 2017 to accept the head coaching position at Duquesne. On April 5, the school hired former Ohio and Illinois head coach John Groce to replace Dambrot.

## Previous season

The Zips finished the 2015–16 season 26–9, 13–5 record in conference, winning the East Division title as well as the overall regular season MAC championship. The Zips defeated Eastern Michigan and Bowling Green to advanced to the championship of the MAC tournament where they lost to Buffalo. As a regular season conference champion who failed to win their conference title, they received an automatic bid to the National Invitation Tournament where they lost to Ohio State in the first round.

## Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Jake Kretzer | 15 | G/F | 6'7" | 216 | Senior | Bainbridge, OH | Graduated |
| Reggie McAdams | 21 | F | 6'7" | 208 | Senior | Elida, OH | Graduated |
| Pat Forsythe | 34 | C | 6'11" | 245 | RS Senior | Brunswick, OH | Graduated |
| Peter Agba | 42 | F | 6'5" | 210 | Freshman | Greensboro, NC | Transferred to Rochester College |

## Recruiting
### Class of 2016

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Isaiah Williams SF | Dayton, OH | Stivers School for the Arts | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | 210 lb (95 kg) | Mar 1, 2015 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Tavian Dunn-Martin PG | Huntington, WV | Huntington High School | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) | 155 lb (70 kg) | Aug 4, 2015 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Michael Hughes PF | Liberty, MO | Liberty North High School | 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) | 278 lb (126 kg) | Oct 1, 2015 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Jordan Davis PF | Canton, OH | McKinley High School | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) | 250 lb (110 kg) | |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2016 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved October 3, 2016. ||||||

### Class of 2017

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Jaden Sayles PF | Cincinnati, OH | Sycamore High School | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) | 200 lb (91 kg) | Jul 30, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Eric Parrish SF | Houston, TX | Sunrise Christian Academy | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | 190 lb (86 kg) | Oct 23, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2017 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved October 3, 2016. ||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| 11/12/2016* 7:45 PM, ESPN3 | | at Youngstown State Northeast Ohio Coaches vs. Cancer | L 82–90 | 0–1 | Beeghly Center (2,601) Youngstown, OH |
| 11/17/2016* 7:00 PM | | American | W 72–62 | 1–1 | James A. Rhodes Arena (2,785) Akron, OH |
| 11/20/2016* 7:00 PM | | Radford Savannah Invitational | W 88–41 | 2–1 | James A. Rhodes Arena (2,986) Akron, OH |
| 11/22/2016* 7:00 PM | | Georgia Southern Savannah Invitational | W 75–67 | 3–1 | James A. Rhodes Arena (2,457) Akron, OH |
| 11/25/2016* 7:30 PM | | vs. Air Force Savannah Invitational semifinals | W 84–75 | 4–1 | Savannah Civic Center (2,263) Savannah, GA |
| 11/26/2016* 7:30 PM | | vs. Mercer Savannah Invitational finals | W 65–63 | 5–1 | Savannah Civic Center (2,391) Savannah, GA |
| 11/30/2016* 7:00 PM | | Adrian | W 95–41 | 6–1 | James A. Rhodes Arena (2,868) Akron, OH |
| 12/03/2016* 8:00 PM, FS2 | | at No. 10 Creighton | L 70–82 | 6–2 | CenturyLink Center (16,852) Omaha, NE |
| 12/07/2016* 7:00 PM | | Coppin State | W 87–63 | 7–2 | James A. Rhodes Arena (2,948) Akron, OH |
| 12/10/2016* 8:00 PM, ROOT | | at No. 8 Gonzaga | L 43–61 | 7–3 | McCarthey Athletic Center (6,000) Spokane, WA |
| 12/17/2016* 7:30 PM, BCSN | | Marshall | W 99–88 | 8–3 | James A. Rhodes Arena (3,598) Akron, OH |
| 12/21/2016* 7:00 PM | | vs. UC Irvine Sun Bowl Invitational semifinals | W 88–80 | 9–3 | Don Haskins Center (5,333) El Paso, TX |
| 12/22/2016* 9:00 PM | | vs. Maryland Eastern Shore Sun Bowl Invitational championship | W 76–60 | 10–3 | Don Haskins Center (4,633) El Paso, TX |
| MAC regular season ||||||
| 01/03/2017 7:00 PM, ESPN3 | | Bowling Green | W 89–84 | 11–3 (1–0) | James A. Rhodes Arena (2,742) Akron, OH |
| 01/07/2017 6:30 PM, BCSN | | Western Michigan | W 66–59 | 12–3 (2–0) | James A. Rhodes Arena (2,760) Akron, OH |
| 01/10/2017 7:00 PM | | at Central Michigan | W 89–85 | 13–3 (3–0) | McGuirk Arena (2,302) Mount Pleasant, MI |
| 01/14/2017 3:30 PM, ESPN3 | | at Miami (OH) | W 74–70 | 14–3 (4–0) | Millett Hall (3,334) Oxford, OH |
| 01/17/2017 7:00 PM, ASN | | Ohio | W 83–68 | 15–3 (5–0) | James A. Rhodes Arena (3,598) Akron, OH |
| 01/20/2017 6:30 PM, CBSSN | | Eastern Michigan | W 70–63 | 16–3 (6–0) | James A. Rhodes Arena (3,625) Akron, OH |
| 01/24/2017 7:00 PM, ESPN3 | | at Western Michigan | W 90–80 | 17–3 (7–0) | University Arena (2,079) Kalamazoo, MI |
| 01/28/2017 7:30 PM, ESPN3 | | Buffalo | W 91–90 | 18–3 (8–0) | James A. Rhodes Arena (4,884) Akron, OH |
| 01/31/2017 8:00 PM, ESPN3 | | at Northern Illinois | W 76–73 | 19–3 (9–0) | Convocation Center (1,042) DeKalb, IL |
| 02/04/2017 12:00 PM, CBSSN | | at Ohio | L 70–85 | 19–4 (9–1) | Convocation Center (10,101) Athens, OH |
| 02/07/2017 6:00 PM, ASN | | Ball State | W 65–63 | 20–4 (10–1) | James A. Rhodes Arena (3,105) Akron, OH |
| 02/10/2017 7:00 PM, ESPNU | | at Eastern Michigan | W 87–76 | 21–4 (11–1) | Convocation Center (1,397) Ypsilanti, MI |
| 02/14/2017 7:00 PM, BCSN | | Toledo | W 71–65 | 22–4 (12–1) | James A. Rhodes Arena (3,365) Akron, OH |
| 02/17/2017 7:00 PM, ESPNU | | Kent State | L 67–70 | 22–5 (12–2) | James A. Rhodes Arena (5,500) Akron, OH |
| 02/21/2017 8:00 PM, BCSN | | at Bowling Green | L 65–66 | 22–6 (12–3) | Stroh Center (1,611) Bowling Green, OH |
| 02/25/2017 3:30 PM, ESPN3 | | at Buffalo | W 89–83 | 23–6 (13–3) | Alumni Arena (6,598) Amherst, NY |
| 02/28/2017 7:00 PM, ESPN3 | | Miami (OH) | L 75–79 | 23–7 (13–4) | James A. Rhodes Arena (3,646) Akron, OH |
| 03/03/2017 9:00 PM, ESPN2 | | at Kent State | W 66–56 | 24–7 (14–4) | MAC Center (6,327) Kent, OH |
| MAC tournament ||||||
| 03/09/2017 12:00 PM, BCSN/ESPN3 | (1) | vs. (8) Eastern Michigan Quarterfinals | W 79–62 | 25–7 | Quicken Loans Arena (2,245) Cleveland, OH |
| 03/10/2017 5:30 PM, CBSSN | (1) | vs. (4) Ball State Semifinals | W 74–70 | 26–7 | Quicken Loans Arena (6,065) Cleveland, OH |
| 03/11/2017 7:30 PM, ESPN2 | (1) | vs. (6) Kent State Championship | L 65–70 | 26–8 | Quicken Loans Arena (10,376) Cleveland, OH |
| NIT ||||||
| 03/15/2017* 7:30 PM, ESPNU | (7) | at (2) Houston First Round – California Bracket | W 78–75 | 27–8 | Health and Physical Education Arena (1,928) Houston, TX |
| 03/20/2017* 8:00 PM, ESPNU | (7) | at (6) UT Arlington Second Round – California Bracket | L 69–85 | 27–9 | College Park Center (5,390) Arlington, TX |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time Source. ||||||