Akron at Bowling Green, 7:00 PM Eastern, espn+
With our colleague John Stalica having to step away for a bit, Chad is back at the helm of one of his original job duties here at HoopsHD — the Under the Radar Game of the Day! To start this return to action, our game today is a very important battle at the top of the MAC standings between Akron (5-3, 3-2) and Bowling Green (10-3, 6-1).
The Akron Zips are coming off of a thrilling overtime win over Toledo this past weekend, when senior Maishe Dailey drilled a 3-pointer with 2.9 seconds left in OT to knock Toledo out of sole possession of first place in the conference standings. Although Dailey was the hero this past weekend, the player to watch on the Zips all season long ahs been Loren Cristian Jackson. Jackson is averaging a team and conference high 22.6 points and 7.0 assists per game this season. In fact, Jackson has already been named Lute Olsen National Player of the Week twice this season.
Bowling Green entered this season as one of the favorites to win the MAC. They looked very strong in their last game out, a 10-point road win at Buffalo. Justin Turner is the player to watch out for tonight, as he leads the team with 21 points and 5.3 assist per game, though Daeqwon Plowden and Trae Diggs are also averaging double digits in points. Tonight’s game has all the earmarks of a fun contest, involving a matchup of two of the best Under the Radar guards in the entire nation.