While the entire team changes around him, guard Tommy Freeman remains constant.
When Ohio travels to Oxford to take on Miami tomorrow, Freeman will be one of several players who has played against the RedHawks more than twice.
In the past two seasons, many players have either left or joined the squad, leaving Freeman as one of Ohio's (9-7, 0-2 Mid-American Conference) few upperclassmen.
Freeman, a junior, is one of only four players on the roster that have been with the program for at least three years.
After starting 24 games as a sophomore, Freeman has started in 14 of Ohio's 16 games this season. This gives the Bobcats consistency, something that is not assured with a roster of mostly freshmen and transfers.
On our team
starting isn't as big of a deal as some people make it especially with our guards Freeman said. All the guards are usually going to get around the same amount of time
so it's really just when you're in there you gotta make the most of your opportunity.
As a 3-point specialist, Freeman provides the Bobcats with instant offense. In Wednesday's 67-62 loss to Akron, Freeman began the second half with a 3-pointer that cut Akron's lead in half and sparked Ohio's run.
Last Saturday against Kent State, the Bobcats fell behind 15-2 before Freeman came off the bench and hit two 3's back-to-back that put the Bobcats in the game.
It felt good to kind of get the game rolling; it helped us to set a tone for the rest of the game
Freeman said.
Freeman led the MAC in 3-point shooting last season at 42.5 percent. He has increased that to 44.3 percent this year, and also improved his scoring average from 7.4 to 8.3 points per game, despite playing about three fewer minutes per contest.
The amount of talent we have has really given Coach a lot of options as far as who he wants to bring off the bench and what combinations of players he wants to play
Freeman said.
But being an upperclassman involves more than just playing on the court. It comes with the responsibility of being a leader, Freeman said.
It helped me a lot when I got here having some older guys that I really looked to see how things were done
Freeman said. Now that I'm one of the older guys I just try to lead by example and bring it every day to practice and show the younger guys that you can't take a day off.
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Sports
Vince Nairn
