After Ohio’s eight-point win against Hampton Tuesday, the Bobcats looked far from satisfied — even a bit dejected. Their margin of victory was its slimmest of the young season, and Ohio senior forward Ivo Baltic admitted to seeing his team outworked at different points in the game.
“We’re happy that we won, but we’re disappointed by the way we played — especially on defense,” he said.
Ohio (4-0) will suit up for arguably its first real test of the season Saturday when it hosts Richmond, which is only two years removed from a NCAA Sweet 16 run of its own.
The comparisons between the Spiders (4-1) of two years ago and last year’s Bobcats are abundant, as they both squeaked out a win in the NCAA Tournament’s opening round before taking their second game a bit more comfortably and losing in the round of 16.
Beyond that, though, two very different teams will take the court at The Convo Saturday.
The Spiders finished the 2011-2012 season 16-16 with a signature victory against eventual Atlantic-10 champion Temple, and an 11-point win against Dayton in the final game of its regular season. The year was more or less labeled a rebuilding effort, as Richmond lost four starters from its successful tournament team.
This time around, Richmond returns a trio of capable guards, led by sophomore Kendall Anthony and senior Darien Brothers, both of whom average 15 points per game.
The Spiders operate out of mostly half court sets, and Christian said earlier in the week that the Bobcats are hunkering down to combat their physicality on both ends of the court.
Ohio was outmuscled in the paint against Hampton, and allowed the Pirates to pull down 20 offensive rebounds and an additional 23 on the defensive end.
That needs to change if Ohio wants to be successful against Richmond, Christian said.
“It’s more of a mindset than it is anything else,” he said. “Yes, there’s a lot of technique in it. You have to block out. But we have fifteen Division I players — this isn’t their first day of basketball. Everyone knows when a shot goes up you have to box out. So it’s a mindset. ‘Are you going to accept that?’ ”
Ohio was not able to implement as uptempo of an attack as it intended to Tuesday, as it was halted by its poor play on the glass.
“You can only run and gun if you rebound the ball,” Christian said. “We didn’t get any rebounds, so it’s hard to get out in transition.”
The Bobcats hit the court as a team every day except for Wednesday this week, and spent Thanksgiving together as a team, practicing “once or twice,” Christian said.
He noted that their early-season schedule doesn’t permit for many days off — holiday or not.
“We don’t have a lot of preparation time,” he said. “It’s not like we have a game, a week, then a game.”
UP NEXT:
OHIO (4-0) vs. Richmond (4-1)
2 p.m. Saturday
The Convo
— Richmond’s three starting guards each average more than 10 points per game.
— Five Ohio players average double figures in points through four games this season.
— No Ohio player has had more than 10 rebounds in a game this season.
jr992810@ohiou.edu
