Ohio will play Heidelberg on Saturday in its home opener of the Jeff Boals era, which began with a win Tuesday on the road in St. Bonaventure. The Bobcats will look for their fourth 2-0 start in the last six seasons.
Tipoff is set for 1 p.m.
The game
Where: The Convo
How to watch: ESPN3
How to listen: Ohio IMG Sports Network
The opposition
The Student Princes, a Division III school, will have their season opener against the Bobcats.
Last season, Heidelberg went 8-18 overall and 6-12 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. The Princes averaged 77 points, a 42.7 field goal percentage and 39.7 rebounds per game.
Heidelberg returns only two of its top five starts last season in guards Dylan Woods and Josh Dixon. Woods averaged 13.2 points per game as a sophomore last season while Dixon averaged 9.3 points as a junior.
Things to watch from Ohio
Ohio couldn’t have asked for a much better performance in its season opener. The Bobcats shot 47.1 percent and led for 37 minutes against St. Bonaventure in a 65-53 win in front of a crowd of 4,305 people packed inside the small confines of the Reilly Center.
“I thought our guys showed a lot of grit and toughness going into a hostile environment,“ Boals said. “We really played a full 40 minutes, which is what we wanted to do.”
Jordan Dartis led Ohio with 19 points in his first game since he missed the entirety of last season with hip injuries.
Jason Preston, however, controlled the offense and notched a double-double with 11 points, 13 assists and seven steals.
The Bobcats’ success will continue to hinge on the play from Dartis and Preston, who should continue their strong starts Saturday against Heidelberg and a defense that allowed 79 points per game last season.
Boals also expects freshman and top recruit Marvin Price to play Saturday in his first collegiate game.
