Preview: Akron vs. OSU

Photo Attribution: US Presswire

Vitals

Time: 9:30 AM
Location: Puerto Rico
TV: ESPNU (Cox (OKC & Tulsa) – 253 | Suddenlink (Stillwater) – 503 | DirecTV – 208 | Dish – 141)
Online TV: here
Radio: Cowboy Radio Network
Online radio: here
Announcers: Doug Sherman and Dino Gaudio
Line: OSU -3

Records

Cowboys – 1-0
Zips – 1-1

Best win

Cowboys – UC Davis
Zips – John Carroll (that’s a real team)

Worst loss

Cowboys – [fill in Ford joke here]
Zips – Coastal Carolina

KenPom rank

Cowboys – 55th
Zips – 89th

Uni Watch

Data nerds

[table id=56 /]

Adj. efficiency – Points per 100 possessions (adjusted for quality of opponent and site of game).
Adj. tempo – Possessions per game (adjusted for schedule and pace of other team).
Effective FG % – Takes into account extra value of 3s.
Turnover % – Turnovers divided by possessions.

Three things to watch

1. Turnovers – Akron turns it over a lot. This is a good thing for OSU because they currently sit at 286th in the nation in offensive rebounds allowed (and 261st in offensive rebounds collected). For the Cowboys to win games they’re going to have to get steals and easy breakaways because the second chance points are not going to come easy.

2. Forte PT – Keiton 2.0 played like a rock star in his first GIA foray, how will he do on a (slightly) bigger stage? One thing’s for sure, Ford isn’t afraid to play him a ton of minutes, and he’ll need to given the state of our bench. I think people are going to be surprised by our new annoying little white guy.

3. JPO’s role? – He looked lost against UC Davis. And to be fair I look lost after I tear my pinkie nail, much less after returning from major knee surgery. Him finding his groove is going to be important to whether or not OSU makes the dance this year and I have no idea if he knows how to do that on this squad.

Predictions

KP (KenPom): OSU 70-67 at 61% certainty
KP (Kyle Porter): OSU 65-59 at 0% certainty