The Bobcats suffered their worst shooting performance of the season Tuesday.
The first three for Ohio fell with just under eight minutes remaining in the game.
That was the story of the night Tuesday, as the Bobcats were unable to take the cap off the basket and lost 76-40 against Eastern Michigan.
It was a night to forget in many ways for Ohio but especially from the field, as shot after shot clanked off the rim, which in turn led to numerous fast breaks for the Eagles.
The Bobcats (7-11, 2-5 MAC) tried feeding the hot hand of senior forward Maurice Ndour inside early, but he and sophomore forward Antonio Campbell were turned away by the Eagles. When that wasn’t working, guards, senior Bean Willis and freshman Ryan Taylor, tried to get it going from behind the arc, but none went down until Willis hit Ohio’s first three with 7:22 remaining.
“I didn’t think we took ridiculous threes,” said coach Saul Phillips. “I think shot selection from three has been an issue this season, but I don’t think that was the case today. I thought we looked off in every capacity offensively.”
The 2-3 zone defense by the Eagles gave the Bobcats fits, as they were unable to get in a consistent offensive rhythm early on.
In the first half, Ohio shot five of 31 from the field and missed all 11 shots from beyond the arc.
The Eagles’ lead continued to grow in the second half as the Bobcats were unable to crack into their deficit. Ohio’s poor shooting continued, going eight for 26 from the field.
“We simply couldn’t put the ball in the hoop,” Phillips said. “When we couldn’t put the ball in the hoop, our transition defense continued to get worse and worse, and they fed off of that. Teams have breaking points and tonight ours showed it, and I’m not proud of that as a coach. I don’t think our players are proud of that as players.”
The lone bright spot of the night came from Antonio Campbell, who recorded a team high of 16 points to go along with his 11 rebounds. Campbell had ten of those points in the second half as he provided Ohio’s only consistent option offensively.
After their last second win over Buffalo on Saturday, it seemed as though the Bobcats would dig themselves out of the basement of the Mid-American Conference to be legitimate contenders. They still have time to turn it around, but are now four games behind the MAC East leader, Kent State.
Ohio will try to put Tuesday behind it as it travels to MAC West leader Central Michigan on Saturday. The Chippewas lost 63-53 to Kent State on Tuesday.
“Every team has their breaking point, and we came out and didn’t knock down shots early on,” Phillips said. “We were out toughed around the basket. It was a very difficult game for me to stomach as a coach, and that can’t happen again — period.”
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