University of Akron wing Evan Mahaffey received the loudest ovation of any Zips player at the program’s tipoff reception on Friday, Oct. 30 — and, as the Akron Beacon Journal reported, he is also at the center of the eligibility fight that could define Akron’s season before it begins.
Mahaffey, a versatile 6-foot-6 wing, is the main connective tissue between this roster and the 2025-26 team that became, in March, the first Akron men’s squad ever to three-peat as Mid-American Conference Tournament champion, according to the Akron Beacon Journal.
The uncertainty comes from a rule the NCAA passed in June granting players five seasons of eligibility — a rule that excluded players who graduated from high school in 2022, the Beacon Journal reported. Mahaffey is one of many 2022 graduates across the country fighting for a fifth year.
Akron has two players in that position: Mahaffey and guard Kamrin Oriol, who transferred from North Florida in September. Both are currently eligible and expressed optimism the status quo will hold, according to the Akron Beacon Journal.
On Oct. 29, the Ohio Supreme Court filed an order keeping about two dozen players — including Mahaffey and former Zips Amani Lyles and Tavari Johnson — available to play by preserving an earlier ruling, the Beacon Journal reported.
Zips athletic director Andrew T. Goodrich, speaking on stage at the season preview event at House Three Thirty, joked about nearly falling out of his chair with excitement when he learned of the Oct. 29 news, according to the Akron Beacon Journal.
Head coach Dustin Ford, who succeeded John Groce on March 30, is building his first Akron team around the returning core. Ford told the Akron Beacon Journal the program is simply hoping Mahaffey remains eligible to play.
Mahaffey’s importance is not theoretical. He and Oriol each scored 18 points in Akron’s 92-76 exhibition win over Youngstown State on Oct. 27 at Rhodes Arena, second only to transfer point guard Tahj Staveskie’s 28 points, according to the Beacon Journal.
On Oct. 20, Mahaffey and Staveskie were named Preseason All-Mid-American Conference Second Team selections, and Akron was projected to finish third in the MAC Preseason Coaches’ Poll, the Beacon Journal reported.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on
What we know: Mahaffey is eligible today, a court order preserves that status, and Akron opens its season at Louisiana on Nov. 2. What we’re still waiting on: a final resolution of the eligibility litigation that determines whether the 2022 class keeps its fifth year for the full season.
What happens next: the Zips tip off Monday at Louisiana with Mahaffey in the lineup, while the legal fight that began with testimony from Mahaffey and Ford at a July 1 hearing in Hamilton County continues in the background.
The case has already produced an unusual paper trail in Ohio courts. At a July 1 hearing, Mahaffey and Ford both provided testimony, according to Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas records cited by the Akron Beacon Journal — a head coach and his player making the program’s case in a courtroom months before the season tipped off.
The dispute reaches beyond Akron. Former Zips Amani Lyles, now at Cincinnati — where Mahaffey’s younger brother, Eric, will play after spending last season at Akron — and Tavari Johnson, now at the College of Charleston under Groce, are among the players kept available by the Oct. 29 order, according to the Beacon Journal. Groce coached Akron for nine seasons before taking the Charleston job in late March.
That history is why Mahaffey matters so much to this roster: he is, as the Beacon Journal put it, the main connective tissue to a team that made history in March, and his presence shapes everything from the Zips’ rotation to their promotional graphics for the 2026-27 season.
The reception at House Three Thirty underlined how much of Akron’s identity this season runs through Mahaffey. He was featured prominently in a Fear the Roo Collective hype video shown at the event and posted on social media, and he appears in the graphics announcing UA’s schedule and promotions for 2026-27, according to the Akron Beacon Journal — marketing built around a player whose eligibility was decided, for now, by the state’s highest court.
Photo: Navie05, CC BY-SA