Ohio coach Jim Christian doesn’t want to pigeonhole himself.
Leading up to the season-opening game against Northern Iowa at The Convo, the Bobcats’ second-year coach wants to let his players’ performance determine who will fill his starting five and full rotation.
“I think we’re going to play a lot of guys all year long,” Christian said. “When guys play well, they’ll get a chance to play. I mean, I think we have a deep team. In terms of rotation, I think a lot of the game dictates that.”
Christian has said during the weeks leading up to this game that his team’s depth is its greatest asset and that he thinks the group can go two-deep at every position, with 10 or 11 players seeing the floor in each game.
But that depth will be put to the test against Northern Iowa, which made it to the semifinals of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament last season, finished third in the Missouri Valley Conference and is picked to finish third in the conference again this season.
The Panthers, which finished 21-15 last year, present a flurry of challenges for an Ohio team that is hoping to win its 10th consecutive season-opening contest.
“They’ve got a lot of size,” said senior guard Nick Kellogg. “They have a lot of versatile players as well, so we’re going to have to focus on taking those guys away. They’re very good in transition as well, so we’re going to have to match up quick and do all the small stuff to be successful against them.”
Although the Panthers have lost 34.9 points and 14.2 rebounds per game from last season’s squad, they return nine players, including junior forward Seth Tuttle, who started all 36 games and averaged 11.4 points and 6.6 rebounds per game.
Northern Iowa also might be looking for a bit of revenge against Ohio, seeing that the Bobcats traveled to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, two seasons ago and handed the Panthers a 76-59 defeat.
“We played them two years ago at their place, so I’m expecting them to remember that a little bit,” said senior forward Jon Smith. “You always want to defend your home court, so they’re going to come in here pretty pumped up. I think they have a little confidence and are going to come in here hard.”
Ohio senior forward T.J. Hall said the Bobcats hope to useheir depth and speed to make the opposing big men tired and force Northern Iowa’s five players that are 6-foot-7 or taller into early foul trouble.
The Panthers already have two exhibition games under their belt this season. They defeated Division II foes Bemidji State and Dubuque during the previous two weekends, respectively.
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