The Ohio men's basketball team will begin its season earlier this year than it has ever before under coach Tim O'Shea. Opening the season against Marist on Saturday, the Bobcats will play more than a week sooner than last year in order to fit in a 30-game schedule.
While starting off early may get his team more action on the court, O'Shea said opening in mid-November is never pretty.
This is by far the earliest we've played a game so we are working on execution and getting ready. I don't think any coach is really happy with where his team is in November and that is the case with us
O'Shea said. There are areas of improvement and we are working on them as a good thing.
Playing host to the Red Foxes, the Bobcats want to focus on playing stronger defense after a sketchy defensive showing in an exhibition game last weekend against Christian Brothers University.
One reason for a strong defensive performance is Marist's star point guard, Jared Jordan. The returning senior dropped 28 points on the Bobcats when the teams matched up last season in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Though Ohio pulled out a 69-63 win, Jordan left his mark.
O'Shea said the Bobcats are aware of the NBA prospect that led the nation in assists with 8.5 per game and averaged 16 points per game to boot. O'Shea said handling Jordan will be a challenge for anyone.
If a guy is a bona fide NBA prospect and this kid is he is going to play well against all opponents O'Shea said. We just have to do the best to contain him
I have no illusions
this is going to be a really tough game and I am glad we are playing at home.
Forward Leon Williams was a big factor when the Bobcats topped the Red Foxes last season, with 15 points and nine rebounds in the effort. This year, he said that team defense is going to be a key to winning the game.
I know we got to play better defense than we did in the exhibition game; they have really explosive guards that can shoot so we need to play good D as a whole
not just the guards
but big men
too
Williams said. It's going to a tough game like last year; they want to come in here and beat us to get a win under their belt.
Last season the Red Foxes went 19-10 with a 12-6 record in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. This year they have been ranked at 17th of mid-major teams by a poll from CollegeInsider.com
In preparation for the game, forward Asown Sayles said he and the team are ready to get on the court after working on their weaknesses pointed out in the Christian Brothers game.
Our focus is to get better everyday; we want to learn from everything
Sayles said. From the exhibition game we mainly want to improve on defense
but we want to get better in everything as well.
Marist will enter the game returning 12 players from last season including the five starters.
