A week ago, Saul Phillips gathered his team at The Convo for a film session. The night before, Ohio had lost its second straight game, this time at Toledo on national television.
The Bobcats had looked helpless on the offensive side, scoring only 52 points for the second straight game. The ball wasn’t being moved well, and his top scorers were passing up open shots. Most importantly, Phillips offense wasn’t being run his way, players weren’t buying into his plan and instead were trying to do what they thought would be best.
Senior leaders such as Gavin Block and Doug Taylor voiced how people needed to buy into their coach’s plan. Listen to him, they said. Believe in the process.
Bought into his plan they did, indeed.
A week later, the Bobcats are now back in the drivers seat of their destiny. Ohio returned to The Convo for a two-game home stand and took both games with the help of a resurgent offense. Along the way, they lost 3-point threat James Gollon to a season-ending achilles injury. Still, in both games the Bobcats’ have scored over 70 points and found some success from beyond the arc.
But most importantly, the streaky Bobcats have started trending up at the best time.
“I know 3-4 looks a lot better in the league standings than 2-5 does. That’s a huge win from that standpoint,” Phillips said. “So I‘ll actually call a win huge. How’s that sound? You got your headline.”
It’s no secret halfway through this season that Phillips’ is in the last year of his five-year contract, which he signed back in 2014. In the midst of the two game losing streak, the Ohio offense had seemed to come to a halt.
But in the two wins in the past week, Ohio’s looked at its best during Phillips’ time spent in Athens.
In Tuesday night’s win over Western Michigan, Gollon contributed 13 points off of the bench, including three 3-pointers, before his exit in the second quarter. The non-contact injury happened just before halftime, leaving the Bobcats somewhat in a state of shock headed out of the break.
Ohio couldn’t afford a third straight loss, and Phillips wasn’t going to let the loss of Gollon be the excuse for another loss. So Block took over, finishing with 16 points, which included five 3-pointers.
On Saturday, Ohio couldn’t get anything going in the first half, finishing 13-of-33 (33 percent) from the field. The spark off the bench was missing with the absence of Gollon.
Jason Carter, a redshirt sophomore forward, hadn’t scored a point in the first half. By the first media timeout, he had 12 points including a fast break dunk, which sparked the resurgence. Block hit a 3-pointer with 39 seconds to win the game, but it was Carter who led the Bobcats back into the game.
If Carter can continue to play at a high level, a lot of Ohio’s offensive troubles may vanish. He redshirted last season, but in the second half of his true freshman season he was forced to produce a lot of points with the absence of former Bobcat Antonio Campbell. Carter proved his worth and almost won Mid-American Conference Freshman of the Year.
While Carter’s production was key Saturday, it was Jason Preston’s ball movement that has been missing from the Bobcats’ offense. In the last two wins, Preston’s dished out 11 assists and scored 16 points.
“We’re playing better, more comfortable. What we’re doing is working. We just have to keep getting better at that,” Block said.
Ohio is now 3-4 in MAC play and can build on its successful homestead. With a win Tuesday in Dekalb, Illinois, against Northern Illinois the Bobcats would be back at .500 in league play.
While they’ll be more focused on Tuesday’s game, a win could setup a big matchup in The Convo come Saturday. Akron comes into town, which means the return of former Ohio coach John Groce. It’s also the 50th celebration of The Convo’s existence.
Along with Groce, Akron and a birthday celebration, the newfound school spirit brought with the resurgence of the O Zone adds a new layer with D-Lo’s Crew.
Saturday has the possibility to be Ohio’s biggest game of the season.
It’s all happening because the Bobcats are trending upwards.
