Ohio’s offense is in the midst of its first slump of the season.
The Bobcats watched shot after shot clank off the rim in their 73-43 loss to Buffalo on Wednesday night in The Convo. Buffalo shut down Ohio’s best scorers with tight pressure in the paint and forced an abundance of turnovers. The Bobcats failed to make successful adjustments after they trailed 42-23 at halftime.
Here are three stats that mattered:
20 percent
Ohio’s shooting percentage.
It was the lowest scoring output of the season for the Bobcats (22-4, 11-4 Mid-American Conference) and their worst shooting percentage since they shot 24 percent against Toledo on Feb. 13. Ohio failed to shoot higher than 42 percent for the fourth time in its last five games.
With three games left in the regular season, the Bobcats will have to find a way to revert to the same form they showed offensively before their slump.
1
Points scored by Cece Hooks.
Ohio’s top scorer turned in her lowest scoring performance of the year and shot 0-for-7 from the field. It meant that the Bobcats had to look elsewhere for points. But without Hooks’ consistent dose of layups and points from the paint, Ohio never had a chance at matching Buffalo’s offense, which shot 43 percent from the field.
35
Points scored by Cierra Dillard, who scored the 2,000th point of her career in the fourth quarter.
Buffalo’s guard seamlessly worked around Ohio’s defense and caused damage with points both inside the paint and from beyond the arc. Dillard, who entered Wednesday third in the nation in scoring, had 17 points in the first half and finished 13-for-22 from the field and 5-for-12 from 3-point range.
