Ohio (3-6) came into Indianapolis to face off against Butler (8-4) on Thursday in its penultimate non-conference outing before the start of conference play. It left with a 69-49 loss.
Throughout the game, one of the Bobcats’ weaknesses was on full display: rebounding. The Bulldogs, in the bottom third of the country in terms of rebounding, dominated the Bobcats on the glass, winning the rebounding battle by a margin of 44-29.
Coming into the game, the Bobcats conceded the second-highest rebounds per game total in the country at 47.5 rebounds per game.
On top of the rebounding deficit, Ohio struggled to make shots as a team. The Bobcats shot 30% from the field for the game, making just 17 of their 57 field goal attempts. In the team’s three wins on the season, they’ve been able to get hot from behind the arc, which helps to explain why they fell short in this most recent outing.
The Bobcats shot just 20% from behind the line against the Bulldogs, a detrimental statistic considering over half of the team’s shots came from distance. Before Ohio’s matchup against Butler, the team won against Indiana State on Sunday despite shooting woes due to quality defense, forcing Indiana State to shoot poorly.
That wasn’t the case against Butler, who shot 48% on their 25 three-point attempts. This outside-the-arc onslaught was paramount to the Bulldogs’ victory, as was their ability to grab misses when they occasionally couldn’t find the bottom of the net.
On a brighter note, Ohio won the turnover battle, 20-24, a feat that has been elusive in most of its games this season.
While this loss points to all the holes that the Bobcats have showcased throughout the season, the upcoming games on the schedule will show just how well the team can work to patch those holes.
Ahead of conference play, Ohio has just one more matchup out of conference, on the road against Bellarmine on Dec. 30. Following that, the team will head out for MAC play with its conference matchup against Akron, marking its first game of the new year on Jan. 3.
