Missed opportunities were the theme of Saul Phillips’ postgame press conference Tuesday night.
For the first time since Nov. 28, the Bobcats lost at home, falling 75-68 to Ball State. The Bobcats are off to a 1-2 start in conference play after squandering their opportunities late in Tuesday’s game, and now three of their next four games are on the road.
The Bobcats missed too many layups. They didn’t close out properly. They missed timely free throws. All harmless enough on their own. The Bobcats won’t win every game within the game.
But 10 of Ohio’s 18 conference games were decided by single digits last season. The smaller details will matter more as the conference season continues.
Here are three of those details to pay attention to after the Ball State loss:
Missed gimmes
Mike Laster finally had an off night. Gavin Block hasn’t shot above 40 percent from the field since November. Jordan Dartis’ foul trouble prevented him from getting more shots on a good shooting night.
And yet the Bobcats still generated enough good shots to win. 21 of their 61 shots were classified as layup range. The problem was they only made eight of them.
The Bobcats shot 14-of-17 from the free throw line, too — they just happened to miss the last three they took when they needed them the most.
Trailing by seven with 4:03 remaining, the Bobcats missed two free throws, a layup and a tip-in over the course of 17 seconds.
It was a sequence that could have offset some of the other shooting woes Ohio faced.
Close outs
The fundamentals also failed the Bobcats on Tuesday.
Ball State plays a similar style to last season’s Ohio team: multiple shooters surrounding the 3-point line and a barrage of dribble drives and inside out passing to keep the defense moving.
Throughout the second half, the Bobcats were sloppy recovering toward shooters, which set up more drives and left the defense a step behind.
Phillips cited staggered feet as a problem. He said his players forced the dribble drivers the wrong direction. They weren’t balanced enough.
Maybe it’s a coach nitpicking a defensive effort he admitted was good enough to win. But maybe the close outs had something to do with the 27 percent boost in 3-point shooting from one half to the next.
It’s an awfully large coincidence if it is one. Ball State is only the 10th best 3-point shooting team in the Mid-American Conference.
This issue is a fundamental one. And it’s not going to get less important.
Pace of play
The Bobcats had the best offense in the MAC heading into the holiday break. They’d also played with a pace (number of possessions in a game) above 80 for three straight games and had only dipped below 73 three times.
Since the holiday break, though, they've played below that number in all four games. That’s resulted in three of their five lowest point totals of the season.
The Bobcats scored zero fast break points Tuesday. Their layups were contested in the half court instead of easy looks in the open floor.
Teyvion Kirk credited opposing point guard Tayler Persons for controlling the tempo. Ball State didn't commit many live ball turnovers.
But the Bobcats thrived on making long outlet passes up the court early in the season. They could've made up for their missed opportunities by creating more of them.
