Saul Phillips said he wants to build a "great” program in the next three years.
After Ohio’s 67-61 win over Georgia Tech on Friday, Phillips may want to reconfigure that time table.
The Bobcats are 3-0 for the first time since 2012 — a year they advanced to the National Invitation Tournament. Friday’s win was also Ohio’s first win against an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent since 2007.
"We've been through a lot of these before, and our guys have a lot of confidence in themselves," Phillips said after Friday’s win. "There's no question that one of the biggest narratives in this game is that we've got guys that have played a lot together and played a lot of college basketball games."
Yes, Ohio was projected to win against its ACC foe. And sure, it’s also just November. Ohio has 26 games left on its regular season schedule. It’s next opponent is Tennessee Tech the day after Thanksgiving.
But the Bobcats have shown promise during their first three games.
Part of it stems from Phillips' attention to detail during pregame analysis. Antonio Campbell said Phillips wife, Nicole, hates the amount of film Ohio's third-year coach watches. Phillips denies the claim.
Campbell said Phillips watches an abundance of film — of the Bobcats and their upcoming opponent — while away from The Convo.
“You’d be woefully disappointed in my social life, let’s put it that way,” Phillips said. “I help my wife, hang out with my kids, watch tape, maybe have an occasional beverage. Other than that, we’re good.”
Another part of the Bobcats’ early success stems from Ohio’s starting five tallying 82.6 percent of all of its scoring.
All of Ohio’s 67 points on Friday came from its starters.
"If you play this game in another two months, it might have a different outcome,” Phillips said. “But, I thought it really came down to: we got stops down the stretch when we needed them, and, I thought, we did a reasonably good job of closing out the game on the offensive end."
Kenny Kaminski stated the Bobcats are one of the deepest teams in the country after Ohio’s season opening win over Southern. Kaminski had 15 points Friday thanks to five second-half 3-pointers, and is one of the main reasons the Bobcats are slowly creeping up on the Associated Press’s Top-25 national poll.
“Coach has been preaching since he got here, when we’re beating a team we’re supposed to beat or just winning period, keep piling it on,” Campbell said. “Don’t stop.”
A final piece to the puzzle comes from Jaaron Simmons and Campbell, though. The two have been raved about since last year, but the tandem continues to tear through one mid-major after another.
When Jaaron Simmons has tallied eight or more assists, the Bobcats have won — or at least during their previous five wins. He’s a big reason Ohio has become one of the Mid-American Conference’s better passing teams.
Campbell — who has scored 59 of Ohio’s total 240 points this season — is responsible for 24.6 percent of the Bobcats total scoring output.
"We've got a really veteran team, a junior point guard that's really good and a senior center that there's a reason NBA teams are coming to watch him,” Phillips said Friday. “And I think you've got a bunch of guys on the other side that are just getting to know each other.”
Sophomore forward Doug Taylor said Wednesday before the team traveled to Atlanta how important Campbell is for the Bobcats on and off the court.
Taylor and Campbell have shown a jovial relationship on the court and during practices. From occasional trash talking to poking fun at each other while stretching, the two symbolize Ohio’s camaraderie this season.
“(Antonio Campbell) is like a big brother,” Taylor said. “It’s fun going up against him in practice. It’s getting a little old, too, because basically, how he says it, it’s like playing chess with each other because we know exactly what each other are going to do just from playing each other all last year.”
