Ohio will travel to Bowling Green on Wednesday and prepare for the Falcons’ spread offense scheme.
About a week ago, coach Bob Boldon and the Bobcats held a meeting to talk about the recognition the team has received from accumulating their first winning season since 2007-08.
Ohio was coming off wins against Central Michigan and Akron —the latter of whom, at the time, was just one game behind Ohio in the Mid-American Conference standings — and it came to a simple conclusion during the meeting; the Bobcats aren’t going to talk about their success.
“One game at a time,” senior Mariah Byard said. “If you were here for the Kent game, we just didn’t show up the first half and Kent is supposed to be one of the worst teams in our conference.”
Byard said despite the successful run Ohio has had this season, the Bobcats (18-3, 9-1 MAC) are just as vulnerable as other teams in the MAC.
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“Every team has it’s vulnerabilities and weaknesses, but our job is to go out and not show that,” she said.
Against Bowling Green on Wednesday, those weaknesses Boldon and the Bobcats have camouflaged adequately this season may culminate because of the Falcons’ ability to spread the floor.
Boldon said the number of shooters Bowling Green places on the floor in one rotation is what makes the Falcons a threat.
Bowling Green (9-13, 2-9 MAC) is among the top four in all three-point statistics during MAC play, as it averages more than seven made 3-pointers per game. Ohio averages almost nine, which is best in the MAC.
“The thing that scares me about Bowling Green is that we’re playing them in their gym, where they practice on a regular basis and the number of shooters they put on the floor and the confidence in which they’re shooting the basketball,” Boldon said.
Despite some of his concerns, being on the road has caused minimal adversity for the Bobcats. Ohio is 6-1 in road games this season and playing inside the Stroh Center has not been a strong suit for Bowling Green. The Falcons are just 4-4 at home.
The Falcons are amidst a four-game losing streak and have dropped six of their past seven games. Bowling Green’s record, however, means little to Boldon.
“Records can be deceiving,” Boldon said. “You can think ‘Oh, this team is good because they have a good record’ or ‘Oh, this team is bad because the have a bad record.’ The beautiful thing about sports is that any given night we’ve seen incredible upsets.”
The Bobcats’ slow start against the Golden Flashes this past Saturday may be a troubling sign for things to come, as they are usually the team to jump out early on opposing teams. Sophomore forward Hannah Boesinger said the pressure isn’t exactly compiling on the Bobcats’ historical season.
“Were going to go out, play as hard as we can — I wouldn’t say there’s much pressure, but we know there’s some things we need to fix and we’re going to do that,” Boesinger said.
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