A Doug Taylor jumper with 8:57 left in the first half brought Ohio to just a six-point deficit. It was manageable, considering in the first 11 minutes, Ohio hung with an electric Toledo offense.
Then the dam broke.
Toledo ended the half on a 20-7 run, which paved the way for a sheer, absolute 91-57 blowout of Ohio on Tuesday at The Convo.
“The one thing in basketball that we can all relate to is when the ball is not going in the hoop there is something that lacks with energy," coach Saul Phillips said. "And you try like heck to get over that, and with some teams eventually you do. I don’t think we’re past that with this team yet."
Ohio has indeed tried its best to break out of an offensive slump in the new year, but the results just haven't come yet.
It was the second time in the last five games where the Bobcats didn't reach the 60-point mark. Just once in the last six games, which dates back to 2017, have the Bobcats scored more than 70 points in a game.
"We’re trying to move the ball, set screens for one another, come off screens hard, cut hard, reverse the ball, get open looks," James Gollon said. "But I couldn’t tell ya. Some nights it’s there and you see it. Other nights, like tonight, it was just terrible.”
In the last five games, including Tuesday's loss, Ohio has shot below 40 percent from the field three times.
“I think it’s simple physics," Gollon said. "When you’re missing shots from longer range, get closer to the hoop.”
Taylor, who was the best player for the Bobcats in a career-high (15) point performance, echoed Gollon's sentiment immediately.
“Absolutely, we need to get easier looks," Taylor said. "If that’s getting the ball down to me or Kevin, that’s cool, off a screen, cutters that would be great. We just need to make better plays. That’s all.”
Discounting Taylor, who went 6-of-9 from the field from high-percentage looks, the Bobcats shot 16-of-54 from the field — just 22.8 percent.
Gavin Block's struggles continued, too, as he went just 2-of-8 with six points. Over the last six games, he's averaged 5.5 points per game.
Jordan Dartis, who re-aggravated a hip injury pregame, scored just six points as well. Both he and Block have been dealing with injuries, something that has hindered the offensive performance of late, too.
Phillips, however, has refused to use that as an excuse.
“We started the season with two preseason all-conference players," Phillips said. "We’ve got about .5 of one because of where Jordy’s health is. So how do you learn to play like this? Two times in conference play we haven’t figured it out at all. One time we were definitely right there and we won it. The other two we had a chance to win and we missed some opportunities.”
The point guards, Teyvion Kirk and Zach Butler, tallied zero assists against the Rockets, too. The bench didn't score much either, as the bench finished with 13 points — all from Gollon and Butler.
“I’m looking for the guys that are on the bench to step up and give me more," Phillips said. "Period. Who came in there tonight and screamed, ‘I need more minutes?’ I didn’t see it.”
But whatever the Bobcats needed on Tuesday, it wasn't there. The offensive woes weren't fixed, the defense wasn't much better and the energy was nowhere to be found. All of that compiled for Phillips' second worst conference loss of his head coaching career.
As for the future, Ohio will have to begin to shoot better if it wants to get back on track and end a three-game losing skid. Gollon and Taylor mentioned the energy and compete-level being something that can change moving forward. Phillips disagreed.
“To me, compete is just a phrase," Phillips said. "You’ve got to go deeper than that. Dougie Taylor competed hard tonight. That’s like saying, ‘boy, the Titanic had really nice lawn chairs tonight.’”
