Ohio has swept the Battle of the Bricks so far this season, defeating Miami in both Athens and Oxford.
Now the Bobcats look to continue this season’s dominance of the RedHawks in Cleveland, as the teams will take the court for the third time in a second-round Mid-American Conference Tournament game Wednesday.
Wins didn’t come easy for Ohio in the teams’ previous two meetings. The Bobcats climbed back from a 16-point second half deficit to defeat the RedHawks at home in their first game on Feb. 8, and needed overtime to squeeze out an 82-76 win last Saturday.
Taking down Miami a third time will come down to matching its intensity, Ohio coach Jim Christian said.
“It’s going to be a war out there,” he said. “If we meet them at their competition level, then it’s going to be one heck of a game. If we don’t, then we’re going to be in trouble because we know how they’re going to play.”
Part of meeting Miami at its “competition level” will come down to playing smart basketball and avoiding the turnovers that often plague the Bobcats, who have averaged 14.1 giveaways in their seven MAC losses.
Miami is a team that feasts on swiping the ball from its opposition, leading the conference with 8.8 steals per game and ranking second in the MAC with an average of 14.8 turnovers forced. And in last Saturday’s game, the RedHawks forced 19 Bobcats giveaways.
Ohio freshman forward Antonio Campbell said he and the rest of his teammates need to play intelligently if they want to move past the RedHawks for the third time this season.
“I’m sure it’s not going to be easy,” Campbell said. “I’m pretty sure they’re going to try to double in the post again. I’ve just got to be smart and make the right plays out of the double.”
Campbell has been one of the Bobcats’ key contributors of late, taking the starting job from junior forward Maurice Ndour, whose season-long back problems have recently flared up and forced him to play fewer minutes when coming off the bench.
In the three games Campbell has started in place of Ndour, he’s shot 15 of 20 from the field, averaging 12 points and four rebounds.
“The thing that he’s done better than anything is he’s able to play through his mistakes now,” Christian said. “In the beginning of the year when you’re a freshman, the weight of the world kind of goes on your shoulder, and now he’s able to play through it.”
Ohio will need players such as Campbell to continue their better-than-average play in order to pull off the task of winning four games in the next four days. But despite the daunting slate ahead, Christian is just focused on beating Miami again.
“It’s conference tournament time,” he said. “Is it going to get up another notch? It’s going to be hard to because I think both teams played unbelievably hard on Saturday.”
ch203310@ohiou.edu
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