Ohio will play North Carolina Greensboro in the CBI quarterfinals, a team the Bobcats have never played before.
When asked how much they knew about North Carolina Greensboro after defeating Albany Wednesday, Ohio's Jaaron Simmons and Treg Setty were synonymous with their answer.
"(I know) they're from North Carolina," Simmons said with a smile.
"They have a lot of schools: Greensboro, Wilmington, Ashville," Setty added.
Ohio coach Saul Phillips — who's more wise than what's shown on the surface — didn't know much either.
"I know more about the Greater Greensboro Open than I know about UNC Greensboro at this moment," Phillips said Wednesday night. "For those who don't know, that's a defunct golf tournament. Just shows my age."
Regardless of how much homework Ohio has done since beating Albany in the first round of College Basketball Invitational five days ago, it will host North Carolina Greensboro in the CBI quarterfinal inside The Convo. Tipoff is at 7 p.m.
It will be the first time the two teams meet.
North Carolina Greensboro (15-18) comes into the bout after defeating Houston Baptist 69-65 behind Francis Alonso's 17 points and Diante Baldwin's 16 points.
The Spartans have won six of their previous seven games.
Ohio (22-11), on the other hand, will look to win back-to-back games for the first time since beating Miami and knocking Northern Illinois out in the Mid-American Conference Tournament on March. 10.
"We didn't know a heck of a lot about Albany before they came up on the opposite of us," Phillips said. "It's fun for me as a coach to see something totally different than you see for a while. You go through the MAC and you see same things over and over again."
A Bobcat player most likely targeted by the Spartans during Monday's bout: Antonio Campbell.
Albany's head coach Will Brown said after Wednesday's loss that he talked to multiple coaches around the MAC heading into the CBI opening round and was transparent about doubling up on Campbell — the MAC Player of the Year.
Campbell faced double teams often Wednesday finishing with just 11 points and eight rebounds on 4-of-10 shooting.
"He's a really good," Brown said. "Campbell can really shoot the ball from the perimeter, so that presents another problem. But we're used to doublin', so we thought we be able to limit his effectiveness a little bit and make him work a little bit."
The Spartans could do the same.
Against Wake Forest and North Carolina this season, North Carolina Greensboro tended to hedge on pick-and-roll and had late rotation on skip passes. This could be a problem for the Spartans if Campbell and Simmons get going early.
As of late, Phillips has allowed Campbell and Simmons to play off the pick-and-roll with shooters Kenny Kaminski and Jordan Dartis hovering around the 3-point line for spacing.
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The Bobcats have averaged 82 points per game in the previous six games, about three points higher than their season average.
The Spartans, coached by Wes Miller, give up 73 points per game this season and are 3-13 on the road this season. That average, however, could be inflated because North Carolina Greensboro's challenging schedule — at least for an opponent in the Southern Conference.
According to CBS Sports, North Carolina Greensboro's strength of schedule is 184. Ohio's is 102.
"There a good team, a solid team, they got guys that can stretch the floor," Campbell said. "Kind of like Akron, reminds me a little of bit of Akron. I think will be a good test for us because we will see Akron next year. We want to win this thing now."
According to OU spokesperson Katie Quaranta, the Bobcats will pay $40,000 per game to host the first two rounds of the CBI.
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