Coach Saul Phillips said the film session after Buffalo wasn't pretty. It was long and it was scathing. After all, it needed to be.
Ohio gave up 108 points last Saturday, the highest point total allowed by the Bobcats in regulation this century. It was a sudden halt for a team that looked to be turning the corner, both offensively and defensively.
Yet on Tuesday at The Convo, the Bobcats rebounded in dominating fashion, forcing 18 turnovers in a 75-59 win over Bowling Green on senior night.
“You don’t give up 108 points and tell everyone everything is going to be OK," Phillips said. "Defensively, our guys were embarrassed."
The embarrassment in the film room turned around in a hurry for Ohio, which scored 18 points off of those 18 turnovers. The Falcons scored just five points off of 11 turnovers.
It wasn't just the turnovers, though, that slowed down the Falcons attack. The Bobcats turned up the pressure on the defensive end, not only forcing turnovers, but bad shots as well.
“At one point in the first half we had them at 0.5 points per possession," Phillips said. "There’s literally no way you’re going to lose at that clip unless you decide you’re not going to shoot.”
Demajeo Wiggins scored 18 points in 30 minutes of action, but that was by design. Ohio deliberately left him one-on-one instead of offering help. That allowed Wiggins to tally 15 rebounds, too, but it also took the rest of the Falcons offense nearly out of the game.
Bowling Green shot 39.3 percent from the field and just 3-of-20 from 3-point range, numbers almost impossible to comeback from when paired with the turnovers.
“We knew coming in that they weren’t accustomed to pressure," forward Doug Taylor said. "We decided we’re not going to let them choose what to do, we’re going to make them make the decision that we give them. Usually, it resulted in either a turnover or a terrible pass that messed their rhythm on offense up.”
With the Falcons backcourt banged up, the Bobcats knew to turn up the pressure from the get-go. It happened immediately, when guard Teyvion Kirk forced an errant pass — of which the Falcons had many — for the game's first turnover just seconds in.
"Their point guard is a little banged up right now, and they’ve got a really good two guard playing the point," Phillips said. "But that’s not the same as having a point guard. It just isn’t. I thought early on that we hopped them enough that they got out of sorts."
Ohio kept Bowling Green out-of-sync for a majority of the game, resulting in numerous stretches where Bowling Green went minutes without a point or a field goal. The Bobcats answered on the other end of the floor with 75 points of their own, too, combining for 20 team assists.
It was a far cry from the previous game against Bowling Green, a 66-50 loss on the road.
It was also a far cry from just three days ago, when Ohio couldn't do anything to stop Buffalo's conference best offense from scoring at will.
Instead, Ohio's newfound pressure and defense suffocated any chance of a Bowling Green attempt throughout the night.
