Saturday, November 29th, 7:00 p.m. (et)

FACTS & STATS: Site: George & Phyllis Rothman Center (5,000) -- Teaneck, New Jersey. Television: None. Home Record: Akron 3-0, EKU 2-0. Away Record: Akron 0-1, EKU 1-2. Neutral Record: Akron 0-0, EKU 0-0. Conference Record: Akron 0-0, EKU 0-0. Series Record: Eastern Kentucky leads, 12-6.

GAME NOTES: The Akron Zips resume play in the Legends Classic tonight, as they match up with the Eastern Kentucky Colonels at the Rothman Center. The Zips opened this event with an 86-67 setback at nationally-ranked Pittsburgh, but they were able to rebound from that loss with an 81-37 trouncing of Urbana on Tuesday. With the split of the tournament games, Akron now stands at 3-1 overall and it will conclude its stay in this event against Fairleigh Dickinson on Sunday. As for EKU, it has already played three games in this event, going 2-1 during its stay. The team opened the tournament with a 98-84 setback at Texas Tech before bouncing back with wins over Thiel College (91-43) and most recently Fairleigh Dickinson (83-47) last night. With the result on Friday, the Colonels now sit at 3-2 overall on the season. EKU leads the all-time series with Akron, 12-6, but the two teams have not played since 1987.

The Zips connected on 50.7 percent of their shots from the field and held Urbana to a horrific 25.5 percent shooting performance in a lopsided win on Tuesday. Akron also dominated the glass, 48-34, in addition to forcing 26 turnovers. Nate Linhart led the way with 16 points and six rebounds, while Chris McKnight had 14 points and the same amount of boards. On the season, Linhart paces the Zips in scoring as well as rebounding, averaging 12.0 ppg and 6.4 rpg. Brett McKnight nips at his heels with 11.5 ppg, and Chris McKnight follows with 10.8 ppg. Overall, Akron is turning in 69.0 ppg, while limiting its foes to only 56.8 ppg on the season.

The Colonels shot a sizzling 55.6 percent from the field, including a 10- of-20 performance from three-point range, as they cruised past FDU last night. The team won the battle on the boards, 43-31, and also scored 24 points off 16 FDU turnovers. Mike Rose led the charge with 17 points and nine rebounds. Josh Taylor had 13 points and seven boards off the bench, while Papa Oppong logged 12 points and six rebounds. On the season, Rose has clearly been the team's go-to-guy, averaging a hardy 20.2 ppg after five outings. Oppong is a distant second in scoring at 11.8 ppg, but he stops the roster in rebounding with 7.6 rpg. As a whole, the Colonels are netting a solid 76.2 ppg behind 51.1 percent shooting from the floor this season.

Akron has had more time to rest for this game and that should help it wear down an EKU team that was in action just last night.

Predicted Outcome

Akron 77, Eastern Kentucky 70