Just five days after a disappointing loss to Kent State, the Ohio men's basketball team will get a rematch in the teams' final meeting of the season.
The Bobcats (18-10 overall, 12-7 Mid-American Conference) will be seeking revenge on the Golden Flashes (20-11, 12-7 MAC) and playing for a spot to face either Miami or Bowling Green in the MAC Tournament semifinals.
The teams spilt their regular season meetings with each team recording a decisive home win. Ohio coach ¥Tim O'Shea said the game will come down to execution and simply playing well.
I think both teams know each other now. We just have to play well; that's all it is
O'Shea said. We blew them out here they blew us out there. It's going to be a much different game tomorrow and I expect it to be real close and come down to the last couple of minutes. In the teams' last meeting in Kent, Ohio led by two heading into halftime but came out flat in the second half and struggled to get any shots to fall as Ohio got into foul trouble. Rebounds were the Bobcats' Achilles' heel as they forced Kent into missing shots from the perimeter but were not able to clean the glass.
Guard ¥Jeremy Fears acknowledged the game's problems and said the team has an improved plan for tonight.
We've made a couple of adjustments on both offense and defense
he said. They killed us on rebounds last game
because we didn't rebound very well out of the zone. We have to box out and play some Ohio defense that we did earlier in the season. Guard ¥Mychal Green also said the team will focus on rebounding, but getting the ball into the post for forwards ¥Leon Williams and ¥Terren Harbut is equally important.
We're going to try to go inside more
because last time we didn't
Green said. And we want to get Leon some more touches this time -that's the key to our offense. Last time we made them miss a lot of shots
but we gave up too many second-chance points with all the long rebounds. The guards have to help out our big guys on the boards. This will be the first trip to Gund Arena for most Bobcats, including Fears, who said this will be his biggest game to date and that he is ready for the challenge.
I've never made it to any kind of championship game or have played in a professional gym
so this tournament means a lot to me
Fears said.
O'Shea said the two previous games are not going to matter much with this game being played on a neutral site.
The blowouts don't have any real bearing on this game
O'Shea said. I think we matchup well with them. Our guys have a lot of confidence
