Ohio hopes to erase second quarter woes in the Akron Classic this weekend.
Ohio coach Bob Boldon said his team may not win a game in November, following Sunday’s loss to Illinois.
It could of been a slight over exaggeration, but that could be because the strength of schedule for Ohio (0-1) is presumably harder than last year's.
Ohio will face-off against Florida Gulf Coast (1-1) on Friday and Winthrop (0-2) on Saturday in the Akron Classic.
Boldon said for Florida Gulf Coast, Ohio could have difficulty guarding the Eagles because of how far it stretches out opponents.
"You have to keep track of a lot of players," he said.
Senior forward Lexie Baldwin said this game will possibly be harder than the game against Illinois, in which Ohio lost 62-53.
“They’re a better team than Illinois was,” Baldwin said. “The mentality is to do everything harder than last game and fix the mistakes we had in that game.”
Some of those mistakes are turnovers, foul trouble and second quarter defense.
“If this was a half,” Boldon said. “You would not have noticed that the last 10 minutes of the half were being played as poorly offensively, as you would have when it’s a 10 minute quarter.”
As far as fixing the foul trouble, Boldon said it will be difficult to fix because of how the game is called. With most hand-checks being whistled right away, the game is changing and scoring is becoming more frequent.
The Bobcats' defense was a key staple in their run to the NCAA tournament in 2014, only giving up 56 points per game.
“Early games are an opportunity to see what you do well and what you need to improve on,” Boldon said. "There are a laundry list of things we need to do better, and I think we need to, week-by-week, try to work on those things."
Early on, Ohio has struggled at keeping the offense consistent after each quarter break.
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The solution to this problem may not come from Boldon in Akron this weekend but from the players. Boldon can only do so much as a coach — it’s up to the team to play its hardest come Friday.
“(Boldon) can’t coach effort,” Baldwin said. “It’s just us giving a better effort. It’s us having to stay focused and not break down with fatigue.”
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