Ohio will welcome Richaun Holmes and Bowling Green to The Convo as they look to avoid longest losing streak in 10 years.
Richaun Holmes, Bowling Green’s leading scorer, is the only Falcons player averaging double digits.
During the past two games, Holmes — a senior forward — has shot a combined 74 percent from the field while totaling 36 points. The rest of the Falcons, however, have made less than 30 percent of their shots from the field in both of those games, which ended in double-digit losses.
Before the two-game slide, Bowling Green sat atop the Mid-American Conference standings, but has since dropped to fourth, behind Central Michigan, Toledo, and Kent State.
This season, against teams with a dominant scorer, Ohio (9-16, 4-10 MAC) has allowed players such as Holmes to get as many shots as they would like while trying to limit the other players around them.
But when the Bobcats traveled to Bowling Green (17-8, 9-5 MAC) early this season, they limited Holmes to just nine shots. Despite Holmes’ limited looks from the field, he was still able to put up 18 points along with 12 rebounds in Ohio’s 69-54 loss.
“We have to get multiple bodies around him. He is a bouncy athlete, good off the dribble, and is actually shooting it pretty well from deep,” coach Saul Phillips said. “The kid has turned into a pretty complete player. It’s important you have bodies around him at all times either leaning on him or able to get into him in a hurry. If he’s bouncing around free ranging out there you’re not going to be able to stop him.”
The lone time this season when the Bobcats were able to slow down a dominant scorer came against Buffalo. In a game that will be remembered for Maurice Ndour’s game-winning jam, the job he did defensively against Justin Moss — the MAC’s leading scorer — was just as crucial. Moss scored just 11 points in the contest, as he was frustrated by the way Ohio played him.
So just like the game Ohio played against Moss and Buffalo, the Bobcats will look to slow down the presence of Holmes inside on Tuesday. Phillips emphasized that there is no one way to limit a player like Holmes or Moss, so it can be expected that Ohio will throw plenty of different looks at him.
“When he catches the ball in the post we want to get digs from the guards to make him think twice about taking the dribble, so he can kick it back out,” sophomore forward Antonio Campbell said. “If they throw it back in, we do the same thing again. Basically, just keep him off the offensive glass.”
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The Bobcats are looking to avoid their longest losing streak since the 2003-04 season when the squad ended the season on a five-game skid. It was also the last time Ohio finished the season with fewer than 15 victories. With just four games remaining on the regular season schedule, the Bobcats sit at nine wins.
“We have too many players trying to get it done on their own and not coming together as a group,” Phillips said. “We will definitely get better over time — it’s something that I have been able to instill in every program I’ve been at over the years, but it’s hard when it’s not there yet and it’s getting late. I wish it was there.”
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