Despite having a losing record and dropping its first two MAC games, there is still a lot of basketball to be played for Ohio.
Ohio is frustrated.
After making a pair of NCAA Tournament runs during the previous five seasons, outsider expectations have risen. And the players, including senior forward Maurice Ndour, have raised their expectations as well.
Ohio (5-8, 0-2 Mid-American Conference) has a losing record this early in the season for the first time since 2004 and has lost its first two MAC games for the first time in five years.
But there’s still a lot of basketball to be played.
“We feel kinda mad, with our heads down because we’re seniors. It’s our last year,” Ndour said. “We only have 16 games left and we’re not winning. We aren’t doing the things we were expecting to do this year.”
I didn’t expect this basketball team to lose last Wednesday to Northern Illinois for the first time since 2007, but it’s a young team with a first-year coach. That’s been the overlying narrative all season.
It was also also the first of 18 games in MAC play, and with 16 games remaining Ohio’s only two games out of first place. Its non-conference record ultimately doesn’t matter either.
If Ohio can start winning and put together a decent finish, it can earn a decent seed in the MAC Tournament. Anyone can win that week in Cleveland, even with a low seed or a poor non-conference schedule.
If Ohio doesn’t start winning soon, it might eventually become time to press the panic button, but it’s too early now.
“You get optimistic after one loss. After two, you’re kind of frustrated,” Ndour said.
The Bobcats aren’t the only MAC team without a win in conference play. The other team? Eastern Michigan, which defeated Michigan — a team off to a solid start in the Big Ten.
“There’s no question we are not where we want to be right now,” coach Saul Phillips said. “There are reasons for that — we’re trying to fix those reasons. But yeah, if there’s not a bit of frustration in there you’re not a competitor and that’s not any good either.”
Some changes need to be made. That’s what’s been the most frustrating for Ndour, but he said the Bobcats need to begin putting forth more effort.
“We’re not putting anything together that makes people guard us,” he said. “They don’t get tired so they’re going to come at us every time, you know. We’ve got to be the hunters now. Now we’ve got to be the dogs.”
That mentality will be new for the Bobcats moving forward, starting with Wednesday night’s game against Toledo. In years past, Ohio had a target on its back after being the only MAC team to win an NCAA Tournament game since 2003.
Phillips said the MAC East is up for grabs on any given night, but he has told his team they need to start winning soon before getting stuck in any sort of lengthy losing streak.
“It’s as simple as this: we all feel a hell of a lot better when we win a game,” Phillips said. “We need to win.”
Chad Lindskog is a senior studying journalism and sports editor of The Post’s. What’s your prediction for the remainder of the men’s basketball season? Let him know at @chadlindskog and cl027410@ohio.edu.
