Ohio will look to rebound better against Florida Gulf Coast on Saturday
On Monday, Ohio didn't play basketball.
No, instead, it played a few innings of wiffle ball.
"Yo, where's the Big-League Chew?" redshirt senior Treg Setty asked his teammates after Mike Laster hit a two-run homer into The Convo stands.
If Monday's practice displayed anything, it showed the Bobcats can still have a little fun before their regular season-opener against Florida Gulf Coast on Saturday.
"I didn't know what was about to go down," freshman Jordan Dartis said. "It helped build our chemistry a little bit and just notice we had fun throughout this (scrimmage), throughout this game."
After beating Indiana Tech 73-57 in an exhibition matchup, Ohio took Monday as a lighter day after being out rebounded (49-37) by a relatively smaller Warriors team.
Instead of worrying too much, though, the team flung plastic bats, junior Wadly Mompremier struck out a few times and Dartis threw a few sliders.
The score? Didn't really matter. The 'white' team eventually won against the 'green.'
But the score against Flordia Gulf Coast on Saturday? That one will matter.
"(Florida Gulf Coast) beat us last year, they had three senior guards that pretty much killed us," junior forward Tony Campbell said. "They have a nice solid big man who runs the floor, a freak athlete, and I think they're going to pound it to him to get me into foul trouble."
Wednesday, Campbell said he has been dealing with an stubbed toe, but after his nine point, nine rebound-performance against Indiana Tech, took Phillips' rebounding drills seriously in preparation for Florida Gulf Coast.
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The Eagles — or more appropriately named "Dunk City" — are coming off a 22-11 season and defeated the Bobcats last year, 79-62. Ohio was out rebounded, 44-33, in the loss.
Campbell said boxing out opponents and transitional defense will be two points of emphasis for Ohio against Florida Gulf Coast, as Ohio's transitional defense was "terrible" against Radford on Halloween weekend, despite a win.
"We tend to watch the ball and not finish plays a lot," Campbell said. "So rebounding, everybody boxing out, getting their man. I have a tendency to, when the ball goes up, walk underneath the rim for a rebound and the ball goes over my head to my man."
Campbell said the Bobcats will also look to lock down the Eagles' 6-foot-9 Croatian sharpshooter Filip Cvjeticanin who, according to Campbell, "shoots the basketball from NBA range." Cvjeticanin averaged 6.8 points last season.
"Make no mistake about it, after a 10-win season, we are learning how to win as a group," coach Saul Phillips said last Saturday. "I don't make (any) apologies for that."
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