It is no mystery that Ohio has experienced success under head coach Jeff Boals, who just finished his seventh season with the Bobcats. However, after Thursday night's loss to Kent State in Cleveland, it marked back-to-back first-round exits in the Mid-American Conference Tournament for Ohio.
This season marked the first under Boals where Ohio went under .500. After an injury-ridden 2024-25 season, Boals looked to regroup, but this team never really clicked, and he took full responsibility, claiming it needs to start at the top.
“Last year was a wash,” Boals said. “I think everyone knows how many injuries we had. We beat Miami at home, and I think (we were) the only team to beat Akron while down multiple people. So last year was a wash. I think this year I failed this team from an accountability standpoint.”
This season got off to a rocky start for the Bobcats. They had one of the hardest non-conference schedules in the MAC, hoping to draw national attention from marquee games and, hopefully, big wins. But the wins never materialized for Ohio, which will be back to the drawing board next year as it loses a handful of graduating players.
“Our non-commerce schedule was probably a little too difficult for the team,” Boals said. “I think next year we'll try to do something different with that, but we have to be better. There is going to be a reset. This team won't be the same as it will be next year. We're losing a lot of really good players.”
The senior leaders were a big motivator for Boals to push this team this year. The big leaders were guard Jackson Paveletzke and forward Aidan Hadaway. These two seemed to always have a hand in the offensive production this season, but in the biggest moment, they both disappeared.
Paveletzke was the center of the Golden Flashes’ defensive plan, and it showed when he logged 12 points on two field goals. The games in which Paveletzke was quiet this season called for some offensive help, and this year it often took too long for Ohio to find another option to get rolling in close games.
Hadaway was the answer on Thursday night, having 20 first-half points, but then the game got physical in the second half, and Hadaway fouled out on a technical foul with just under 10 minutes to play in the game. Losing his offensive ability was crucial, and it wore on Boals because technical fouls and emotional moments had been a consistent problem for Hadaway this season.
“There's been something going on all year,” Boals said. “I failed his team. To do that multiple times, especially in the game, where it could be the last game, right? I failed him. I didn't do enough to hold him accountable. This game was almost a microcosm of our year, and when you play a really good team, our margin for error has not been big, so you can't lose a guy of his caliber with nine and a half minutes to go the way we lost him.”
Poor second-half play was something Ohio fans may have become accustomed to this year, and the loss of Hadaway only made it harder. The Bobcats fell behind in the game due to coming out of the locker room flat, and it cost them more than a few times in the 2025-26 season.
“The last four minutes (of the first half), I think we were outscored maybe 12-6, and then they came out and scored another 13 (to start the second half), or whatever it was in the first four, you have to have the grit right to get a stop,” Boals said. “I think we missed a layup to start the half, they hit a 15-foot baseline jump shot and when your offense isn't going, you have to get the defense right. You can't let one dictate the other.”
Boals, the staff and the players saw the season end earlier than they had hoped. This season will draw many questions for this program moving forward, and Boals is ready to take on the challenge and bring about change to reset his program and get Ohio back to its winning ways.
“I think for us as a department, as a staff, as a university,” Boals said. “What do we want to do moving forward? So for me, I have to figure out where we're going to be, where we want to go and kind of reset this program from a cultural standpoint. Do I like losing? No, I think last year was a wash. This year, I’ll take the hit on that.”
