Ohio coach Jim Christian has preached a proactive defensive approach all season and got the result he yearned for Wednesday when the Bobcats held Ball State to a dismal offensive output.
The Bobcats will look to continue that trend Saturday against Bowling Green, which is in the upper echelon of the Mid-American Conference in terms of defensive play.
Christian said it is imperative that the Bobcats (16-6, 7-1 MAC) carry over their early-game energy against the Falcons (9-13, 4-5 MAC), as it was 15 first-half turnovers that acted as the shovel that dug the Cardinals’ early hole.
Anticipation was the key to Ohio’s defensive dominance.
Christian likened a player’s active defensive posture to that of a safety on the gridiron, being that he has to pick up on subtle hints that allude to future action.
“When a safety is really glued in on what happens, he follows the quarterback’s eyes and makes a steal,” Christian said. “We have to be able to try and turn teams over.”
The Falcons are fairly efficient with the basketball, as they average 12 turnovers per game and have topped that mark only thrice since entering MAC play.
Bowling Green’s offensive attack is rather subdued, as it averages only 62 points per game — the third worst in the conference. Consequently, it relies on relatively stringent defensive play to hold court with the conference’s upper tier of teams.
Still, Ohio is second in the conference with 9.5 steals per game.
Christian admitted that the Bobcats have to keep that mark constant in order to keep their opponents on their heels and away from second-chance opportunities, as their rebound margin is the second-worst in the MAC.
“We’re not the greatest rebounding team of the world — we all know it — so we have to try and find ways to get extra possessions and get easy baskets,” he said.
It’s been 10 games since Ohio out-rebounded its opponent, which is a mark it has accomplished only four times this season.
The Bobcats did see a rejuvenated rebounding effort from senior forward Ivo Baltic on Wednesday, who had eight grabs — significantly better than his average of three per game since entering conference play.
He was benched in favor of junior forward T.J. Hall on Wednesday because, in part, Christian liked what he saw from Hall in games prior.
It remains to be seen whether Hall will start against Bowling Green, but Christian said he liked his energy against Ball State despite the fact that he fouled out after only 10 minutes on the floor.
The Falcons, like each of the Bobcats’ last three opponents, boast a forward who commands respect on both ends of the court.
Senior A’uston Calhoun had the Falcons’ highest rebound total in 18 of their 22 games this season, and is second only to Jordon Crawford, a senior guard averaging 15 points per game.
Ohio had varied results in limiting Calhoun’s influence this past season, as it held him to four points in its home win but allowed him to break free for double digits on the road.
Reggie Keely, an Ohio senior forward, said keeping Calhoun in check comes by making him fight for a position under the hoop.
“A guy like Calhoun makes a lot of plays on top of the rim, so you just have to pack the lane and make him see bodies in the lane — keep a lot of bodies around him and make him try to make difficult shots,” he said.
Christian spelled out Ohio’s defensive scheme even more simply.
“If you play hard and they don’t score, it’s hard to lose,” he said.
jr992810@ohiou.edu
