Akron (17-8, 9-3) at Eastern Michigan (6-19, 3-9) – 7:00 PM ET (ESPN+)
With today being Valentine’s Day, we don’t really get matchups between top UTR teams today, but there is somewhat of a showcase game between the Akron Zips and the hometown Eastern Michigan Eagles. Emoni Bates has singlehandedly made Eastern Michigan somewhat interesting to watch, if only to see what stat line he’ll offer up night in and night out. Against Toledo on January 24, he scored 43 points in the Glass City in an 84-79 loss against the Rockets. However, he was limited to a season-low 4 points in the Eagles’ most recent outing – a 70-63 loss against Toledo.
Akron looked like they were flying high and the team to beat in the MAC after beating Kent State in the first leg of the Wagon Wheel against Kent State 11 days ago. Since that game, the Zips have lost back-to-back games against Toledo and Ohio to fall down to 3rd place by a full game against Kent State and Toledo. Xavier Casteneda averages 21.7 points a game for Akron this season.