Sometimes, records can be deceiving.
Ohio (6-1) travels to Rochester, Mich. to play Oakland (1-7) on Saturday, but the Bobcats aren’t letting the Golden Grizzlies subpar win-loss total fool them.
The Golden Grizzlies have played road games at North Carolina, UCLA, California and Gonzaga, while hosting just one home game, which was against NAIA opponent Rochester College.
Coach Jim Christian said most mid-major teams would be in the same situation if they played the schedule Oakland has faced.
“I don’t think there’s anybody in mid-major basketball that would play that schedule and, I mean, who’s winning at Carolina, California and Gonzaga?” Christian said. “They’ve played some really good teams to test themselves and I’m sure they’re figuring some things out.”
Oakland is led by senior guard Travis Bader, who leads the team with an average of 22 points per game and is what Christian calls a “94-foot guard,” in that he is extremely difficult to guard and can hurt you from anywhere on the floor, especially in the Golden Grizzlies’ transition offense.
“I’m aware of Bader and what he can do,” senior guard Ricardo Johnson said. “Last year, we switched up defenders on him, using different guys, giving him a different look.”
This season, Ohio has done a strong job of shutting down the opposition’s leading scorer, as just last week, Evansville sophomore guard D.J. Balentine, who averaged 27 points per game, was held to just 15 points on five-of-13 shooting.
Christian said that defending Bader will be a completely different challenge than Balentine.
“(Bader) is a really good screener,” Christian said. “Balentine was more of the guy who was coming off (the screen). A lot of (Oakland’s) actions are him setting the screens, so you’ve got to react to that and then get back to him. … Not one guy can guard him. You’ve got to have a fresh body on him.”
Rotating bodies and shutting down offenses has been Ohio’s specialty this season, with the Bobcats holding opponents to 38 percent shooting this season and five of their seven opponents shooting less than 40 percent from the field this season.
Ohio has also excelled in the rebound department, outrebounding its opposition by a plus 2.4-point margin this season and has forced six steals and five blocks per contest.
“Defense is one of the strengths and rebounding are the two things that we really try to hang our hats on,” senior forward Jon Smith said. “We’ve got so many strengths on this team and I’m really proud of what we’re doing early on.”
The Bobcats defeated Oakland 78-61 at The Convo last season.
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This article originally ran in print under the headline "’Cats hope Golden Grizz won’t awake from slumber."
