Kent State coach Todd Starkey admitted he is struggling to figure out his team’s 0-3 start in the Mid-American Conference.
The Flashes fell to Akron 62-61 at the M.A.C. Center Wednesday and are in last place in the conference. KSU had started the season 8-1 and ranked as high as 12th in the College Insider Mid-Major Poll.
Akron is 4-4 and 1-1 in the conference.
Key things from Wednesday’s game:
- For the third straight game, the Flashes shot less than 35%. Before Christmas, the team was making more than 43% of its shots.
- The team looked out of sync most of the night. Kent State had a season-low seven assists, which is a sign the offense isn’t running well.
- The Flashes went on a 10-2 run in the last three-and-a-half minutes of the game but missed a shot as time expired.
- Senior forward Lindsey Thall, a key player since her first game as a freshman, missed her second-straight game with COVID-19.
“I don’t know what to tell you,” Starkey said to reporters after the game. “We’ve got all-conference players that are struggling to find any kind of rhythm. We’re not knocking down the same shots that we were pre-Christmas. We’re not executing plays we’ve been running with upperclassmen for three years. We get in games, and we look kind of lost.
“We have the same players in the same uniforms, and it’s just completely different. I’ve never experienced that much of a 180 during a season. The coaches look at each other and kind of shake our heads, like, ‘How is this happening?’ But our job is to figure it out.”
Ebbs and flow
For the second-straight game, Kent State fell badly behind early but came back to take a halftime lead. The Flashes trailed 15-6 before they went on a 13-2 run and led 30-27 at the break. The game was tied at 42 going into the fourth quarter. Akron pulled away to lead by as many as nine points, but KSU dominated the last three minutes.
The Flashes pulled within 62-61 with 30 seconds left on two Casey Santoro foul shots, then forced a turnover with 16 seconds to go. But a Santoro drive ended in a crowd under the basket. The ball finally got to Bridget Dunn for an 8-foot jumper shot, but it missed.
“We didn’t execute that well, but we had trouble executing about everything we were trying to do,” Starkey said. “We played hard, but we did not play well virtually the entire game. I don’t think we deserve to win.”
Thall is still out
Lindsey, who had started 83 straight games before missing the Western Michigan game Saturday, was still out with COVID.
“She’s our best player,” Starkey said. “She sets the table for everybody. She helps us execute the offense and is obviously a big offensive threat. But we’ve also played winning basketball when she’s been in foul trouble this year. So we have to be able to work through that. But we are better than this. There’s no question about it.”
Running the numbers
- Casey Santoro led the Flashes with a career-high 21 points and had three 3-point baskets, four assists and two steals. Katie Shumate had 13 points and Dunn 11, also including three 3-pointers.
- Nila Blackford had 17 rebounds after grabbing 15 at Western Michigan on Saturday. But she was 3-of-11 shooting and missed all four of her foul shots.
- Overall, the Flashes shot somewhat better than they had in their previous MAC games. KSU made 34.4% of its shots and 42.1% of 3-pointers. In their first two games, they had averaged 29% shooting and 30% from distance. In non-conference play, KSU had averaged 43.5% from the field and 42% on 3s.
- The Flashes outrebounded Akron 45-36, the 12th straight game they’ve outrebounded their opponents. KSU had 17 offensive rebounds but only 12 second-chance points. They were outscored in the paint 40-28 and made just 14-of-34 shots in the paint.
- Akron shot 40.6% and outscored Kent State 17-8 off turnovers and 12-4 on fast breaks.
Next: first-place Buffalo on Saturday
The Bulls tied for first in the league with Toledo at 3-0 and are 9-4 overall. They’ve won all five of their home games and beat Bowling Green (1-1 MAC, 6-5 overall) 82-66 Wednesday. Saturday’s game is at 1 p.m. in Buffalo.
Other MAC scores
- Western Michigan (2-0 MAC, 8-3) 58, Central Michigan (1-2, 3-9) 44 at Central.
- Toledo (3-0, 9-3) 64, Eastern Michigan (0-1, 0-5) at Toledol
- Ball State (1-1, 8-4) 83, Northern Illinois (0-2, 3-7) 82 in overtime at Northern.