Ohio plays Bowling Green on Tuesday in The Convo at 7 p.m.
One of the most important tasks for Ohio coming into its victory against Ball State was to not repeat the mistakes it committed against Northern Illinois.
In coach Saul Phillips’ words, it was, “don’t turn one loss into two.”
Turning one win into two, however, might be a much more welcome concept.
The Bobcats put together a brilliant second half shooting performance both from the field and at the line en route to beating Ball State 79-73 in the season’s first home MAC contest Saturday. The win was Ohio’s tenth win in its first 14 games of the season.
It took the Bobcats 29 games to reach 10 wins last season.
“It’s a good start for a team that I’m still learning about,” Phillips said. “Energy level is always better around a program when you’re putting wins together. That just grows and grows and becomes its own energy, and that’s what we’re trying to get to.”
Ohio will now set its sights on Bowling Green (10-5), who will come to The Convo on Tuesday night looking to redeem itself after a 79-67 loss at home against Central Michigan on Saturday.
Bowling Green is led into the contest by junior Zach Denny, a 6-foot-2 guard who stands as the team’s foremost 3-point shooter and rebounder, scoring a team-best 13.3 points per game while converting on just short of 45 percent, and collecting 7.7 rebounds a game.
Senior Spencer Parker has also emerged as a leader for the Falcons, averaging 13.1 points per game while grabbing 4.9 rebounds per contest.
“(Bowling Green has) kind of stayed above the fray during the transition,” Phillips said. “They’ve had a lot of things go wrong and they’ve just kept winning games."
Ohio has a pair of players looking to build off of strong performances on Tuesday, as junior Antonio Campbell and sophomore Jaaron Simmons each enter the contest coming off a double-double in the win against Ball State.
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The two also stand as the Bobcats’ leading scorers, with 15.3 points per game each.
A large key to Bowling Green knocking off Ohio on the road will be whether it can stay out of foul trouble.
The Bobcats enter Tuesday as the second-best free-throw shooting team in the country with a 77.7 percent mark. Ball State sent Ohio to the free-throw line 31 times Saturday, with the Bobcats making 25 attempts.
A win on Tuesday would extend the Bobcats' home win streak to 10 straight games dating back to last season. The game is at 7 p.m.
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