Teams almost never get a shot for immediate redemption, but that is exactly what Ohio gets against Northern Illinois Saturday.
Ohio (4-10, 1-3 Mid-American Conference) lost to the Huskies, 73-63, Jan. 3 in DeKalb, Ill., thanks in large part to a poor shooting effort - 29.7 percent.
I just thought we missed shots
Ohio forward Delvar Barrett said. I really can't say it was anything they did. We missed a lot of chippies all of us.
There is some hope the hot-shooting in the closing portion of the Buffalo contest will carry into Saturday, Ohio coach Tim O'Shea said.
I think we actually played (Northern Illinois) pretty decent there we just shot terribly
O'Shea said.
Northern Illinois (7-8, 2-3 MAC) forward Marcus Smallwood posted 11 points and 14 rebounds against the Bobcats, something Barrett has not forgotten.
In the first half he hit a couple of shots
but in the second half I just remember him cleaning the offensive glass every time they missed
Barrett said. He's probably undersized for his position
but I don't think there's a better athlete in this conference than Smallwood and not too many across the country.
The key to slowing down Smallwood is stifling his hustle-driven game, Ohio forward Terren Harbut said.
He just got a lot of loose balls and really hustled a lot
Harbut said. Every time a shot goes up you've got to put a body on him.
When Smallwood wasn't working the paint, it was Huskies forward Todd Peterson hitting perimeter shots. Peterson hit five-of-12 attempts from deep, many coming on open looks in the Huskies' half court set.
Although he did not post a monster game in the stat book, Ohio forward Sonny Troutman returned to the lineup against Buffalo for the first time since Dec. 9.
I noticed I was kind of hesitant in some of my moves
Troutman said. I was trying not to do too much knowing it could get injured again real soon.
Troutman missed the first game between the two teams with a foot injury but expects to play and apply greater pressure to Peterson this time around, he said.
I play defense on everyone the same way
I definitely feel like I can guard Peterson this Saturday
Troutman said. He was shooting most of them pretty deep
