Whether it’s bus trips, hotel stays or unfamiliar locker rooms, Ohio does not play its best on the road. And Wednesday’s game against Bowling Green will help to determine if the Bobcats will have to play an extra road game in the Mid-American Conference tournament.
Seeds five through eight play their first game of the MAC tournament at home, while teams ranked ninth through 12th play on the road and the top four teams receive a bye. If the regular season ended today, Ohio (12-15, 5-8 MAC) would be the eighth seed.
Though Ohio’s focus is not yet on postseason play, the prospect of returning home once more after today’s final regular-season home contest is a motivating factor.
“For me, personally, I think we would love that opportunity to play on our home court,” sophomore forward Shavon Robinson. “Because that’s something I don’t think we’ve done in a while at least, so that would be a great opportunity for us.”
Ohio has never hosted a MAC tournament game. The tournament format changed in 2009-10 to feature first-round home games for some teams.
The Bobcats will need a strong showing to compete with the Falcons (22-4, 12-1 MAC). In the teams’ first meeting, Ohio fell victim to a tough Falcon trio of junior guard Crissy Steffen, sophomore forward Alexis Rogers and freshman guard Jasmine Matthews, who combined for 43 points — nearly the output of the Bobcats’ entire offense.
In that game, Ohio trailed by only three points at halftime before falling 61-49. A similar performance in the first 20 minutes would be helpful for the Bobcats, as they are 12-3 when taking a lead into the break.
“BG is a tough team,” coach Semeka Randall said. “We’re going to have to eliminate those scoring droughts where we don’t score, and we need to go in there and make sure we figure out how to get to the basket and attack and get to the free throw line.”
Getting to the charity stripe will be critical for Ohio if it shoots anything like it did in Saturday’s win against Kent State. The Bobcats came up empty in more than 75 percent of their shot attempts against the Golden Flashes.
The Bobcats were especially happy with their defense in Saturday’s win, though. An active press and quick movement on the defensive side of the court allowed Ohio to poke away 16 steals and force 32 turnovers.
“Defensive energy will hopefully turn into offense,” senior guard Tenishia Benson said. “Making sure that fatigue and small things like that are not being a hindrance of us being successful and winning the game.”
Since hosting Ohio, Bowling Green has lost only once, in a 52-50 thriller against Toledo. The Falcons have outscored their opponents by a combined 89 points.
As a comparison, Ohio has a negative 34-point spread since the teams’ first meeting.
jr992810@ohiou.edu
