Ohio opened Mid-American Conference play by walloping Buffalo Wednesday, and will look to bring a similar effort against conference contender Western Michigan Saturday.
The Broncos, which finished last season well under .500, have the second-best RPI of any MAC team, trailing only Akron, which bested them in blowout fashion in their conference opener Wednesday.
Western Michigan (8-6, 0-1 MAC) will put Ohio to task in the interior, as it averages a conference-best 38.6 rebounds per game. On average, the Broncos grab 7.4 more boards per game than their opponents — good for 18th in the country.
The Bobcats (10-5, 1-0 MAC) have a negative differential on the year, and allowed the bruising Buffalo post players to grab 17 offensive boards Wednesday.
That, and the fact that Ohio has yet to win a road game in four tries this season, makes its showdown with Western Michigan a prominent one on its early MAC schedule.
Ohio senior forward Reggie Keely said the Bobcats have made an additional commitment to bearing down on breaking the goose egg in away win column.
“It has to change,” he said. “All the guys have a sense of urgency about our road efforts and what we’ve been producing on the road. Everybody’s locked in, honed in, and understanding how important winning is in the MAC.”
If the Bobcats want to remedy their MAC regular-season championship drought, which dates back to 1994, they will have to get a better start in road games.
They began last season’s conference campaign 1-4 on the road, and haven’t won more than half their away conference games in more than a decade.
Ohio coach Jim Christian said the Bobcats must establish themselves as a different, more intense team now that MAC play is underway.
“We’ve already gone through all (the) learning lessons,” he said. “There’s no more time to learn. Now you have to go play, compete and play with the same game energy on the road that we do (at home.) If we do that, then we will be a good basketball team.”
The Broncos have a significantly different look than they did this time last year, in a season that was marred by injuries to key personnel.
They lost forward Flenard Whitfield and guards Demetrius Ward and Mike Douglas to graduation. Each averaged more than 11 points per game last season.
The Broncos’ most significant loss, though, was center Matt Stainbrook, who left the program to attend Xavier, where he will be eligible to play at the beginning of the 2013-14 season because of NCAA transfer rules.
Stainbrook shot more than 58 percent from the field, was the Broncos’ second-best scorer and grabbed almost seven rebounds per game in 2011-12.
Notably, a pair of assists will put Ohio senior guard D.J. Cooper into the NCAA all-time top 25 in the category.
Cooper, who was named a Cousy Award finalist for the second-straight season Thursday, has 818 helpers in his career.
jr992810@ohiou.edu
