Ohio has an opportunity to leave no stone left unturned for the better part of the decade when it tips off for a tilt against Kent State on Saturday.
The Bobcats have won the first game of their season series against the Golden Flashes nine times since their 2000-01 campaign, but have swept the season series only once — that season, in a pair of games decided by a total of eight points.
Ohio (18-6, 9-1 MAC) coach Jim Christian manned the bench for Kent State (14-11, 5-6 MAC) during six of those seasons, and knew that the last time the Bobcats scratched out a conference sweep wasn’t while he called the Golden Flashes’ Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center home.
But neither he nor several of the Bobcats’ team leaders could put a finger on the last time they sent their rival packing in two-straight regular seasons conference games.
Per usual, Ohio isn’t focused on breaking trends or setting records Saturday, but is just trying to set itself up for a shot at a regular-season conference crown.
Any other accolades are simply a byproduct of the Bobcats’ success, Ohio junior guard Nick Kellogg said.
“Obviously with the position we’re in right now, we’re doing everything possible to keep a clean slate and try to win a league title,” he said. “It’s just another league game for us. It’d be nice to sweep them, but we’ll see what happens.”
To have success against the Golden Flashes, the Bobcats will have to remedy the relatively slow start they showed against Central Michigan on Wednesday.
Crucial in their early-game charge is senior forward Reggie Keely, who made 20 points against the Golden Flashes in the teams’ first go-around.
Keely has plenty of incentive to get into the scoring rotation early, as he is two points shy of becoming the 35th player in program history to break the 1,000-point barrier.
“It’s not too much to think about,” Keely said. “I just go out here to play my game, and hopefully it falls in my lap. More than likely it probably will.”
Fellow senior forward Ivo Baltic, who cracked the century mark less than a month ago against Miami, said it wasn’t a problem for him to keep the milestone out of mind during his record-breaking game, but noted it might be tougher for Keely because he only needs a two-pointer to solidify his spot in the century club.
“For him, it will be (tough) because he only has to score two points,” he said. “I didn’t know about it until I had to score 13 or 15, or something like that. So it was a little different. I was just out there playing.”
Regardless of how quickly Keely kick-starts his offensive game, it’s likely his first basket will come before the Bobcats would even enter their pre-game shoot-around for a typical Saturday contest.
The game was bumped from its slated 7 p.m. start time to 11 a.m. to accommodate TV programming.
An early wake-up time isn’t exactly exciting for the Bobcats’ players or coaches, but they acknowledged that they will have to get their feet moving right away to avoid the foul trouble that plagued them in the first half during their first meeting with Kent State — a one-point win.
The Golden Flashes scored 20 points from the free-throw line in the teams’ last outing.
Since, they have won three of five and have out-scored their last two opponents by a cumulative 32 points, prompting Christian to say the team Ohio squares off against at The Convo on Saturday will be a vastly improved version of the one it squeaked past earlier this season.
“I think Kent is playing as well as anybody in the league right now,” he said. “They’re playing unbelievably well on offense and are shooting the ball especially well from three. It’s going to be all we can handle.”
jr992810@ohiou.edu
