The Bobcats believed they deserved a more worthy BracketBuster opponent. Following Saturday night’s game, UNC-Asheville might be wishing Ohio had gotten one.
Ohio (21-6, 8-4 Mid-American Conference) demolished the Bulldogs’ bracket on its way to an 81-62 win in front of an announced crowd of 9,961.
UNC-Asheville (19-9, 14-2 Big South) came into the game ranked fourth in the country in points per game with an average of 82.3, but could not break through Ohio’s stingy defense.
The 62 points were the fewest the Bulldogs have scored all season. Their previous low was 63 against then No. 4 Connecticut. UNC-Asheville also dropped 75 points on then top-ranked North Carolina.
“Tonight our defense showed up at a high level,” Groce said. “I thought we were physical and really nasty at the defensive end. We know we have to bring that every single night.”
When the BracketBuster games were announced last month, Ohio coach John Groce was disgruntled that his team was not given a higher profile game to be aired on national television. Instead, Ohio’s 19-point dismantling was shown online at ESPN3.com. Freshman guard Stevie Taylor said that played a factor in the way the Bobcats played.
“I was sitting there watching it in coach's office,” Taylor said. “We can’t control that. We can only control how hard we play out there, but for me this one kind of ate at me a little bit.”
Although defense was been its conventional method of operation, Ohio had all facets of the game working from the start. It was only the second time since MAC play began that Ohio scored more than 80 points.
Turnovers hampered the Bulldogs early on and they finished with 24. The Bobcats also struggled in that department, turning it over 23 times, ten more than their season average.
Ohio made up for its lack of ball control by shooting 45 percent from the field in the first half, compared to only 22 percent for UNC-Asheville. Ohio led 34-18 at the break.
But the nation’s fourth-best scoring team could not stay cold forever. The Bulldogs shot 43 percent from the field for 44 points in the second half.
But that number paled in comparison to the Bobcats, which shot 83 percent from the field including 5-5 from 3-point range for 47 second-half points.
“I thought we were much more smooth on offensive,” Groce said. “We executed better and shot a high percentage to accompany the defensive effort.”
Ohio finished the game at 58 percent from the floor, more than 15 percent better than its season average.
With just more than five minutes to play in the game, the Bobcats led by 23 points.
Ohio guard Walter Offutt led all scorers with 19 points. Taylor and Nick Kellogg also scored double-figures for the Bobcats. Ohio received 32 points from its bench compared to only 14 for its opponent.
UNC-Asheville Guard Matt Dickey led the Bulldogs with 16 points.
Similar to Ohio, UNC-Asheville has now lost back-to-back games after winning its 19th game of the season.
With the win, Ohio moves to 6-3 all-time in the ESPNU BracketBusters series.
ro137807@ohiou.edu
