There is a definite buzz around campus stemming from Ohio’s Saturday exhibition game against Mercyhurst College.
That’s a sentence that hasn’t been written before, surely.
Mercyhurst is a Division II opponent that finished off a 15-7 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference tilt with a loss to East Stroudsburg in the PSAC Tournament semifinals.
Students are excited about the matchup, and there’s likely to be significantly higher attendance than last season’s exhibition game against the Lakers — a 19-point win that just more than 3,300 took in at The Convo.
“It’s real exciting to have that type of support around campus and having people set the bar for us this high,” said D.J. Cooper, a senior guard. “That’s what we came here to do from my freshman year.”
In last year’s win against the Lakers, Ohio guards Nick Kellogg, now a junior, and Walter Offutt, now a senior, combined for 40 points for an 82-63 win.
Although Ohio has been tasked with preparing for an opponent for the first time this season, coach Jim Christian made it clear throughout the week in practice that the Bobcats are focused on themselves rather than their opponent — rightfully so, for an exhibition game.
“It’s an exhibition game, so it doesn’t really change what we’re doing,” he said. “We’re still trying to get better, but we’ll probably focus in on some things that they do and, as we keep playing, things that we’re not doing well — just getting prepared to play.”
@Jimryan015
