10 takeaways from Ohio's exhibition victory against Marietta.
After Ohio's 82-69 exhibition victory against Marietta, here are 10 things to keep in mind as the Bobcats move forward to the season opener next Saturday.
- In Ohio coach Saul Phillips's first game in The Convo, the Bobcats got off to a rocky start, trailing by as much as 14 points with 6:52 left in the first half. Ohio crawled back and cut the deficit to two points at halftime.
- The first half included a hot streak of three-pointers by Marietta, which eventually halted and the Pioneers ended with a 37.5% mark from three.
- The focus of concern at the beginning came from the lack of offensive production and settling for early shots.
- Senior forward Maurice Ndour, at 6-foot-9, struggled to produce much during the first half, finishing the opening frame with just two points and three rebounds.
- Ndour came out strong after halftime, though, and score six points off of two three-point plays in the first three-and-a-half minutes of the final stanza. He finished with a team-high 19 points and nine rebounds.
- Senior Stevie Taylor, Ohio's starting point guard, scored nine of Ohio's first 11 points to open the game, including a three-pointer and two straight coast-to-coast baskets.
- Stevie hurt his knee during the second half, came back into the game soon after and was unable to walk off the court. He was brought back to the locker room area and looked at and didn't return to the game. Phillips said he cramped up and will be fine moving forward.
- Redshirt junior forward Treg Setty scored 15 points (nine in the second half). Phillips said he's "an energy guy," that will bring that explosion to the floor this season.
- "I don't think there's a person in that locker room that cares more about the game of basketball more than that guy." — Phillips on Setty's 'spark plug' role.
- Redshirt junior Bean Willis took 12 three-pointers — and made three — but he said he needs to be smarter, along with the rest of the shooters, with taking the right shots.
- Phillips isn't worried about getting points from around his lineup outside of Ndour. He said there's numerous guys on the roster that could drop 20 points on any given night.
