No. 2 seed Ohio starts MAC Tournament quarterfinal against No. 7 Northern Illinois.
Before Ohio even knew it would play Northern Illinois in the quarterfinals of the Mid-American Conference Tournament on Thursday, it didn't care what opponent it had.
Forwards Kenny Kaminski and Gavin Block said Ohio is just going to play its game, regardless of its opponent during the three-day tournament held in Cleveland.
Ohio (20-10, 11-7 MAC) may look to the two's sharpshooting ability and nix recent rebounding woes when the No. 2 seeded Bobcats go against the No. 7 Huskies (21-11, 9-9 MAC) for the third time this season. Tipoff is at 6:30 p.m.
"It's big competition," Kaminski said. "Everyone's backs are against the wall. Lose and you go home. No one wants to be done playing this time of year."
What does "playing our game," a common sports cliche, really mean for Ohio?
A high octane offense — the Bobcats rank first in the MAC in scoring — accompanied by a slashing guard (Jaaron Simmons), one of the most dominating big men (Antonio Campbell) in the league crashing the boards and a variety of shooters (Kaminski, Block) around the floor.
And those four players — Kaminski, Block, Campbell and Simmons — could be the difference makers on Ohio's trek for its first title banner since 2012.
"(Phillips) has a lot of players that bought into the system this year," Campbell said. "That's why we are successful."
The last time Ohio met Northern Illinois, the Bobcats beat the Huskies 80-69. The two teams split the season series, 1-1.
Ohio has strayed away from the horns setup it utilized earlier in the year, spacing Kaminski out on the 3-point line and allowing Simmons and Campbell to work more in the paint.
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"It really has a lot do with how the opponent is going to defend it," Phillips said. "And where our advantage is going to be. At times, it's done us good to move Kenny into a corner. At times, it's been good to have Gavin at some different spots."
According to Cleveland.com, Ohio has a 10 percent chance of winning the MAC Tournament outright. According to the statistics, Akron holds a 33 percent chance, followed by Toledo with 15 percent and Buffalo with 11 percent.
But Ohio, including its coach Saul Phillips, doesn't care about those analytics.
Including the MAC player of the Year, Campbell, and six days of rest, the Bobcats have more momentum than stats show.
For the tournament, Ohio has embarked on the "underdog" role despite being a two seed and a 10-win turnaround.
"I don't honestly mind being an underdog," Block said. "We gotta come in and do the same things we do everyday."
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