Ohio is in the midst of what could be one if its most successful seasons in program history, but that doesn’t mean that a bye week is any more unnecessary than in years past.
After they lost to Toledo and played inconsistently in their win against Western Michigan last week, the Bobcats have hit a perfect time for a bye, which includes no game on Wednesday. They were one of the last teams in the Mid-American Conference to reach a bye week on their schedule and had six straight weeks of two games every seven days.
“(The bye) worked out great for us this year,“ coach Bob Boldon said. “We need some time. We just need it.”
The fact that Ohio can point to only two games, one of which it won, as a reason for a bye week showcases how great of a season it’s had. The Bobcats currently hold the second seed in the MAC Tournament and are in contention for a top-4 seed — which guarantees a first round bye — with five games to play.
But the cushion Ohio has atop the standings can slip away quickly if it doesn’t defeat the tougher opponents left on its schedule, and that’s why the timing of the bye week couldn’t be better.
Here’s what the Bobcats are focusing on with their off-week:
Offense
Ohio’s offense has maintained the No. 1 rank in the MAC for the entirety of the conference schedule so far, but it’s still the biggest focus the Bobcats will work on this week.
Ohio turned in its lowest scoring output of the year last Wednesday in Toledo when it totaled 50 points, shot 24 percent from the field and converted on just two of its 26 attempts from 3-point range — all categories were season-lows.
The Bobcats hovered closer to their usual consistency against Western Michigan, but if it wasn’t for the Broncos’ turnover-prone offense, Ohio wouldn’t have had as many possessions and opportunities to fix its offensive issues in the game.
Boldon said he would put a higher shooting emphasis on drills this week, but it’s likely that this weaker offensive stretch is just a small bump in the road for an offense that has eclipsed 100 points twice this season and has no issues scoring 70 or more points per game.
“We’ll work our way through it,“ Dominique Doseck said. “We’ve played well at the beginning of the season, and we’ve seen the ball go through the net. We just got to get back to that.”
Handling pressure
The last time Ohio was in second place or above this late in the season, the majority of its top players were not on the team.
It was only two years ago when the Bobcats finished second in the MAC East Division before they were bounced in the second round of the MAC Tournament and then the first round of the WNIT. The only starters left from that team are Amani Burke and Doseck, and Boldon hopes this year’s crop of young players can avoid a similar disappointing finish.
That’s why he’s been eager for Ohio to finally reach the bye week and take a mental break. The Bobcats answered the majority of questions that surrounded them ahead of the year, but the biggest question the young team faces now is whether they can avoid a postseason burnout.
Boldon acknowledged how big of a toll two games per week can take on young players, but he believes the week off will help lift the pressure from the Bobcats’ current position in the standings.
“We've been fortunate enough to be in the grind for first place the whole time, so that has added stress and added pressure, and it's good,“ he said. “That's something that this team has been learning and growing. To learn to deal with that is all part of the growing process.”
Scouting Kent State and Buffalo
Ohio will have its hands full with its next two opponents.
The Bobcats will return form their bye week and play two opponents who they only beat by a combined five points in their previous meetings. Each team is no more than two games behind Ohio for second place in the East Division, so if the Bobcats drop both games, their chances at cracking a top-4 seed in the MAC Tournament will take a significant hit.
Ohio has usually kept its scouting focus strictly on its next opponent, but it will have the luxury of a full five days to scout Kent State and a head start on scouting Buffalo, who will enter The Convo on Feb. 27 to complete a grueling three-game road trip that included stops against Ball State and Akron in the previous seven days.
It’s a small, but crucial stretch for Ohio if it wants to lock down a comfortable seeding in the MAC Tournament and stay afloat with Miami and Central Michigan in the top of the conference standings.
