With the regular season just one week away, fans saw their first glimpse of the new era of Ohio basketball Saturday, as seven Bobcats made their debut wearing the Green and White.
In its lone exhibition game, Ohio coasted to a 66-44 victory against Ashland, a Division II opponent, which was undersized compared to a much taller Bobcat team than previous seasons.
“The beauty of playing these games is things we’re good at in practice, we didn’t look as good in the game,” Christian said. “But we played very aggressively on both ends of the floor and that’s how we want to play.”
The Bobcats scored the first four points of the contest on a pair of field goals from Nick Kellogg, a senior guard, and Ricardo Johnson, a senior forward, but the Eagles then scored the next six points.
Ashland held the lead until 14:46 remained in the first half, but the game was Ohio’s from that moment forward, displaying efficient shooting and solid ball movement.
Ohio finished the contest with 19 assists on 27 makes, as the team made 53 percent of its shots, compared to Ashland, which converted just 33 percent of its attempts.
“Last year we led the nation in assists, so that’s one thing that we hang our hats on is sharing the ball,” Johnson said. “(The exhibition) was a learning process and we’re trying to get better.”
Three Bobcats finished with double-digit points, led by Kellogg and Johnson who finished with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Junior guard Stevie Taylor also added 10 points, as well as seven assists, six rebounds and four steals to pace the Ohio backcourt.
“I think I did a good job (of leading this team),” Taylor said. “I can get better still and that’s what we’re going to do this week to prepare for Saturday.”
Taylor played 26 minutes and is expected to share time with redshirt junior transfer Javarez “Bean” Willis this season at point guard, but Willis was inactive after receiving a one-game suspension for violating team rules during an incident last spring.
Aside from Willis’ absence, each of the 13 Bobcats in uniform saw playing time, including eight players that played at least 12 minutes.
“The strength of this team is in its numbers and obviously not having Bean hurt our offense a little bit,” Christian said.
Junior transfer Maurice Ndour finished the game with nine points that included an alley-oop from Johnson and a three pointer. Senior T.J. Hall also finished with nine points.
Although Ohio led by as many as 27 points during the second half, the Christian said they need to show improvement before regular season action begins.
The second-year coach wants to see his team improve their offensive rebounding, number of fouls taken, as well as limit their three-point shots.
Ohio sank just eight shots from beyond the arc, though it recorded 25 attempts. Kellogg was the lone Bobcat to make more than one shot from downtown, as he finished with two.
“We’ll take the positives out of (the win), but we have a lot of things to get better on,” Christian said. “Both individually and collectively, there were a lot of things.”
The Bobcats will have one more week of preparation in practice before hosting Northern Iowa next Saturday in The Convo.
cl027410@ohiou.edu
@ChadLindskog
