The Mid-American Conference league office released the upcoming 2018-19 conference schedule, consisting of 18 games for each team, Wednesday morning.
Ohio will have nine home games and nine road games, featuring two matchups with each team in the East Division and at least one meeting with each team in the West Division.
The Bobcats enter the season with six new faces to the program, but will also feature the return of Jason Carter and debut of Ben Vander Plas.
Coach Saul Phillips appears to be headed into a contract year, as he hasn’t signed a contract extension entering his fifth and final season.
2018-19 could be a tempestuous year for the Bobcats or the year Phillips leads Ohio back to glory in Cleveland.
Here’s the Bobcats’ 2018-19 conference schedule:
January
Saturday, January 5 | Northern Illinois
Tuesday, January 8 | at Bowling Green
Saturday, January 12 | at Ball State
Tuesday, January 15 | Kent State
Saturday, January 19 | at Toledo
Tuesday, January 22 | Western Michigan
Saturday, January 26 | Ball State
Tuesday, January 29 | at Northern Illinois
February
Saturday, February 9 | at Miami
Tuesday, February 12 | Eastern Michigan
Saturday, February 16 | at Central Michigan
Tuesday, February 19 | at Buffalo
Saturday, February 23 | Bowling Green
Tuesday, February 26 | at Kent State
March
Saturday, March 2 | at Akron
Tuesday, March 5 | Buffalo
Friday, March 8 | Miami
Here are three of the biggest matchups of the upcoming season:
- Saturday, January 19 | at Toledo
A year after falling in the MAC Championship to Buffalo, Toledo will again be one of the teams to beat in the West. The Rockets marched into Athens a year ago and pummeled the Bobcats, 91-57.
A Saturday matchup on the road at Savage Arena will be a good measuring stick to see if the Bobcats are ready to compete with the best in the conference. 2018 MAC Player of the Year Tre'Shaun Fletcher is gone, but coach Tod Kowalczyk will reload with senior Nate Navigator, the fourth on Rockets’ all-time three-point list with 224 three-point field goals.
2. Saturday, February 9 | at Miami
A season after losing at Miami, in the first round of the MAC Tournament, Ohio will head to Millett Hall with a healthier squad than a year ago, when the Bobcats lost to the RedHawks in the MAC Tournament .
The two played each other three times last season and by the end of it players were jawing at each other, giving fans flashbacks to the glory days of the Battle of the Bricks.
3. Tuesday, March 5 | Buffalo
Buffalo took the MAC by storm last year, breezing through the conference and upsetting Arizona in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Headed into the second to last home game of the season, the Bobcats will be able to judge for themselves how the season went.
But, if they truly hope to make a run in March, it will start in The Convo on March 5. All signs point towards the East Division running through Buffalo, but a win against the Bulls so late in the season could give Ohio all the momentum they need for March.
