First Miami coach Charlie Coles, then Akron's Keith Dambrot, and finally Kent State's Jim Christian joined the group of Mid-American Conference coaches taking notice of Ohio's defense.
Their assessments were similar: We couldn't run our offense the way we wanted. Those guards are so fast. And last but not least ' this sure isn't the Bobcats' defense I've seen in recent years.Guard Mike Allen thinks he might know why the Bobcats' newfound, defensive tenacity has opposing conference teams a bit befuddled.
There are a lot of good teams in the MAC
but most of them don't get pressured the way we're now trying to bring pressure to the table on them Allen said.
I think that's going to be a big change for all the teams that we play and they might start to pick it up too ' but hopefully not too soon.
More than halfway through their regular season, the Bobcats (11-6, 2-2 MAC) are embracing their new identity as a defensive stalwart. They're holding conference opponents to 57.3 points per game and have given up more than 70 points just once this season ' and that was to No. 2 Kansas back in mid-December.Ohio's hoping a strong defensive effort can help it snag its first MAC road win of the season tonight against Buffalo.Allowing the Bobcats to switch from a primarily zone defense to more man-to-man coverage is the new cast of faster players on the Ohio bench, coach Tim O'Shea said. Guards like Allen, Bert Whittington IV, Allen Hester and forwards Justin Orr and DeVaughn Washington are simply more athletic than anybody we had in the program a year ago.
The trio of speedy new guards has proven to be particularly effective in flustering the Bobcats' opponents. Regardless of what combination of Allen, Whittington and Hester is on the court, the Ohio guards begin their pressure back at their opponent's free throw line, which carries through to the Bobcats' half-court defense.It's a key that we've been putting in our defense
said Allen, who added that he enjoys getting in the face of his MAC counterparts. Sometimes it can cover your teammates' mistakes
too
because if you're pressuring the ball well
the guy you're covering is too occupied with you that he can't really read the defense and see too many other angles of the game.
Ohio's marquee big men also have some new defensive strategies, thanks partially to a change that came with the addition of new assistant coach Bacari Alexander. Rather than trying to double-team opponents once they have the ball, Leon Williams, Jerome Tillman and the other forwards are focused on not letting passes to the inside connect in the first place.And Tillman's glad that the Bobcats are able to hold opponents to low point totals consistently, for what seems like the first time since he's been at Ohio.
Everybody's buying into it; everybody recognized that you can't win a championship without a strong defensive strategy
Tillman said. I always felt like we could play better defense.
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