Ohio takes down Marshall, 85-70, following a 1-2 finish at the Virgin Islands.
Ohio point guard Jaaron Simmons’ play against Marshall Tuesday night was Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde-esque.
Simmons, Ohio’s leading scorer at point guard with 17.3 points per game, led the Bobcats with 25 points to strike down the Thundering Herd, 85-70, despite continuous turnover woes.
“Oh, I didn’t say a word to Jaaron," coach Saul Phillips said sarcastically about his guard’s seven giveaways on the night. "I thought it was just fine for him to turn the ball over that much."
With the shot clock winding down with 1:50 left in the game, Simmons showed his "good side" by driving into the lane, jump stopping in front of two defenders and making a fundamental kick out to Kenny Kaminski for a three to put the Bobcats up 16.
The next play, Simmons drove coast-to-coast after picking up a steal and euro-stepped passed a defender to finish with a lefty scoop.
Simmons' play was good enough to get the guys playing heavy minutes off the court and the reserves to finally takeover in a game where the Bobcats tallied 19 total turnovers and still left with a double-digit victory.
“Jaaron, I’m sure he felt he left a ton on the table, but you look on the stat sheet and pretty good things happening for him,” Phillips said.
Up 10 with under four minutes to go, and Marshall still hanging on, Simmons frantically corralled a loose ball in a broken play.
{{tncms-asset app="editorial" id="6eb59c18-97a3-11e5-acb1-33a8db07da04"}}
He no-look passed the ball between the legs of forward Wadly Mompremier and frustratedly flung his head upward toward The Convo rafters with a look of distress.
Simmons said “just rushing" was the cause of his turnovers. "We’re young, and we’re antsy. It’s definitely a problem. It slows us down.”
Phillips said he watched Simmons slam the floor after committing a couple turnovers, which wouldn’t be the best thing for his court general who did most of the assisting and scoring Tuesday.
“What I saw out there was a guy getting worried about the wrong things,” Phillips said. “I know (a turnover) bothers me, but I like it when it bothers my players too, and he’s that way.”
Simmons said his coach gave him quite an explicit pep-talk to get his game going in the second half and said that was what drove him to cut down on his turnovers and be more aggressive.
“He’s a very smart kid and a tough kid and a driven kid,” Philips said of Simmons. “You put all those factors together and if I can’t figure out a way to reduce his turnovers, then I’m not doing a very good job of coaching.”
Phillips will continue to look for Simmons to be his court general and doesn’t see his mistakes as being too big of an issue yet.
“I wasn’t exactly yanking him after mistakes yet,” Phillips said. “I don’t think we’re there yet.”
@NKairys
nk596613@ohio.edu
