Two days before its game against the best defensive team in the Mid-American Conference, Ohio went through an entire practice without focusing on offense.
Coach Bob Boldon has been so embarrassed by his team’s recent defensive performances, he is willing to sacrifice other facets of the game to get back to defensive competence.
“Our offense might take a hit, and we might only score 45 points on Wednesday and lose because of it,” Boldon said. “But we can’t continue to neglect our defense."
As well as being the best defensive team in the conference, Toledo ranks third in scoring average per game. All five Rockets starters average at least eight points per game, and Boldon said they are similar to Northern Illinois, which scored 88 points against Ohio, in their diverse offensive sets and weapons.
Despite averaging 78.3 points per game in 2017, the Bobcats (12-4, 3-2 MAC) are only 2-2 in the first four games of the new year. Even when Kent State shot under 37 percent from the floor on Saturday, the Bobcat defense still failed to stop the Golden Flashes from shooting 34 free throws.
That performance followed two of the three highest opponent scores of the season, leaving nothing for Boldon to do on the sideline but hope.
"It's hard for me to look out there and say, 'We'll probably get a stop on this possession,' " Boldon said. "It's more like, 'Oh gosh, I hope they don't score.' "
The six foul-outs Ohio compiled over the past three games inspired the coaching staff to implement a tight whistle in practice, which Quiera Lampkins, a senior, said is blown if anyone is touched. The fouls have been a major problem during the defense’s recent struggles and Lampkins said she thinks the referees have been overzealous with the whistles.
But, she sees a bigger, more overarching issue.
“I think that our main problem right now is people don’t have pride in guarding,” Lampkins said.
It was one day of re-installing fundamentals, but Boldon thought his team looked better in Monday’s practice. As the defense has reverted further away from capable, Boldon has developed a defense mechanism to prevent himself from being sucked in by positive signs.
“We need to string together several practices and then we need to string together several games before I am a believer that we’ve made any defensive changes,” Boldon said.
