It is no secret Ohio has had a tough season. Before yesterday’s loss against rival Miami, the Bobcats were 4-15 overall and just 2-7 in Mid-American Conference play.
After the 72-34 blowout defeat, Ohio dropped further in the standings, thanks in part to an offensive performance that is one to be forgotten.
Ohio scored just 34 points on the afternoon, a season-low for a team that has played Power Four schools such as Ohio State and Georgia. Anyssa Jones led the way in scoring with 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting from the field, Bailey Tabeling backing her up with 8 points and wasn't any more efficient.
The Bobcats walked off the court at Millett Hall with a shooting percentage of 23.6% from the floor and an 18% mark from 3-point range. These were troubling numbers against a Miami defense that made the team work for every point. Ohio’s opponents finished the game with five blocks and 11 steals.
It is easy to look at the box score after the game ended and chalk up Ohio’s loss to poor shooting and some stingy Miami defense. However, it is clear something is missing from this Ohio offense, and many possessions end up looking disoriented. Ohio coach Bob Boldon agrees.
“We’re just kind of clunky, we’re just out of sorts as to when to drive, when to pass,” Boldon said. “I’ve got to do a better job of teaching and coaching players to recognize situations a little bit better, a little bit quicker.”
All game it looked like the offense was out of sorts like Boldon said, with players not knowing when to pass, shoot or set a screen. The screening looked particularly out of sorts for Ohio, as the offense revolves around sets utilizing screens off the ball, leaving the ball-handler alone without help for the on-ball defender.
Miami guard Tamara Singer made life hard for those ball-handlers, who were left on an island with Singer, who used her energy and physicality to disrupt the offensive timing.
This system is new to a majority of the players on the team, with just one player holding noteworthy experience under Boldon’s offensive scheme.
“Kate Dennis is the only player that has ever run this offense,” Boldon said. “We used to run this my first 10 years, and we switched last year, and we’re back to it. We’re introducing a lot of players to the system.”
Injuries to key players such as Jaya McClure, Monica Williams and Kennedi Watkins have caused those players to struggle to mesh with the offense according to Boldon.
“Almost every player that plays for us minus Kate (Dennis) has missed significant time throughout the season and has been shifted around,” Boldon said. “All of them have been shifted around minus Kate (Dennis) to different positions and had to learn different things. I think all of that kind of contributes to the overall frustration.”
It was a shame Ohio had the offensive performance it had yesterday considering how its defense played. Ohio in the first quarter held Miami to just 11 points with fast and energetic defense causing a lot of deflections which turned into turnovers for Miami. It was the RedHawks that ended the game with more turnovers than the Bobcats.
Lots of different factors have contributed to the disconnect for Ohio offensively, and that disconnect resulted in the worst offensive performance of the season on the road against their biggest rivals.
