Ohio earned its third win of the season on November 20. More than seven weeks later, the Bobcats will face a conference opponent still search for that elusive third win.
At 2-17, Northern Illinois has struggled mightily this season. The Huskies’ only two victories came against NAIA opponent Roosevelt and Mid-American Conference foe Central Michigan.
But both wins came while leading scorer Tim Toller was still on the team. Toller, who was averaging 10.8 points per game, was dismissed from the team last week after violating team rules.
The Huskies have suffered double-digit defeats at the hands of Utah Valley and Eastern Illinois, and have also dropped games against Nebraska-Omaha and Illinois-Chicago.
Northern Illinois ranks near the bottom of the MAC in almost every statistical category and is dead last in scoring margin, field-goal percentage, assists and turnover margin, among others.
The only category the Huskies excel in is rebounding. Northern Illinois leads the conference in offensive rebounds per game and ranks third in rebounding margin.
Ohio (17-4, 5-2 MAC) is coming off four consecutive wins at home but was outrebounded in each of its last two games by an average of 41-32.
“It’s important that you keep them off the glass. We haven’t done that particularly well in the last two games, certainly to our standards,” Ohio coach John Groce said. “Our guys are aware of that. We’ve talked about it, we’ve showed film, and we’re going to work on it a little bit (in practice).”
The Bobcats have been powered by their defense — creating a tasty matchup going against one of the poorest offensive teams in the league.
The Huskies enter Wednesday’s game averaging only 56 points per game. Ohio allowed no more than 56 points in its past two contests and is 8-0 this season when holding opponents to that mark.
“Defense is our identity,” Groce said. “It’s what we hang our hat on. If we could defensive rebound better, we could take our defensive game to another level.
“We’re kind of focused on that. If we can do a better job on the backboard, then I think we have a chance to be one of the country’s better defensive basketball teams.”
With the Huskies in search of their third win of the year, the Bobcats will be in search of their first road win in conference play.
It has been nearly three weeks since Ohio last played away from The Convo in a 68-63 loss against Akron.
Despite Northern Illinois’ less-than stellar record, Ohio forward Ivo Baltic insisted that the Bobcats would not become complacent.
“It doesn’t matter what your record is. Winning on the road is going to be tough no matter where you play,” Baltic said. “You’ve got to respect your opponent no matter what the situation is because on any given night, anybody can beat anybody.”
ro137807@ohiou.edu
