Ohio travels for the first time this season to take on Florida Gulf Coast in Ft. Myers on Wednesday
The last time Saul Phillips coached a team against Florida Gulf Coast, Ft. Myers hadn’t witnessed “Dunk City.”
That outing in 2005, an overtime loss for Phillips and North Dakota State, gave the now-Ohio coach vivid memories of Florida Gulf Coast’s home gym, which has just 4,633 seats.
He remembered the older crowd mirroring that of the Ft. Myers population, which could chase people “out of the game with a cart with somebody yelling at you.”
After Florida Gulf Coast’s Sweet 16 appearance in 2013, the tenacious crowd has turned younger and more hostile, making it a tougher road game than it seems because the crowd seems to be right in your face.
“It was funny, it was quite an atmosphere,” Phillips said. “They pack it now, so it will be as hostile of an environment as you can ask for. A lot of times I think big crowds in those smaller gyms are tougher to handle than big crowds in big gyms because they’re all right on top of you.”
The Eagles present new faces from that squad that made the 2013 NCAA Tournament, just like the Bobcats have since their run in 2012. One of the faces that has stayed constant is Brett Comer, a senior guard who has been touted as the main point of focus for Phillips and the Bobcats. He has an ability to find open passing lanes and hit his teammates with passes through traffic.
Comer, who averaged almost 14 points and just more than five assists per game a season ago, is also friends with Ohio’s senior guard Stevie Taylor.
“I have a lot of respect for Brett Comer, I’ve known him since the third grade; he’s a pretty good friend of mine,” Taylor said. “I think this will be pretty nice to compete against him.”
As a senior, Taylor said it’s important for him to lead the Bobcats because he can’t expect freshmen to handle their first true road test to perfection.
“Whenever we have big games, I tend to show up,” Taylor said. “My main thing is just getting everyone to show up for this game.”
Treg Setty, a redshirt junior forward, won’t be playing Wednesday to serve a one-game suspension for competing in a non-NCAA sanctioned tournament with Javarez “Bean” Willis this past summer. Setty, however, has been helping throughout the week and knows the Eagles won’t take the Bobcats lightly.
Setty hopes to see more improvement from the team on both sides of the court, because even though they haven’t lost, the Bobcats are still looking to become a collective unit.
“We’ve got a lot of experienced guys, but we’re not all used to playing the roles that coach is asking us to and the offensive and defensive style that he wants to play,” Setty said. “It’s all a process, this whole season is going to be a process. We’re not a finished product right out of the gate, and we understand that, we’re not going to set ourselves too high and try to reach expectations that we don’t feel we can reach.”
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