Recently, Ohio has made a habit of playing catch up.
The Bobcats have shown this in their past two wins against Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan, but despite facing significant deficits in the early second halves, Ohio has shown resiliency.
On Wednesday, against the Chippewas, the Bobcats made key second half, but the game ultimately came down to making strong defensive stands that led to offensive possessions.
“The one thing about (our) team is if you let them back in the game they’re going to win the game,” Christian said. “I’m not happy watching us continually make mistakes that we know we’ve got to correct but I am happy that our team has showed a lot of heart.”
Putting the puzzle together and playing two consistent halves will be crucial Saturday when Ohio squares off against Toledo, which sits atop the Mid-American Conference West Division.
Toledo has been a worthy adversary in the MAC this season, not only in conference play, but also during its non-conference slate of the schedule after defeating Boston College and falling to No. 6 Kansas on the road by just ten points.
Toledo also has the best scoring offense in the MAC averaging 83.2 points per contest and defeats opponents by an average margin of almost ten points per game. The Rockets also pose a threat from behind the arc, as they rank second in the MAC in three-point field goal percentage.
Junior guard Justin Drummond leads Toledo with almost 15 points per contest and is one of five Rockets who average double-digit points every game.
Ohio redshirt senior forward Jon Smith said finding consistent play in both halves starts with decreasing the number of turnovers that cut down on scoring chances.
“I think we’ve got to keep going to the drawing board and see what we can do as a team to get more shots up,” Smith said. “We turn the ball over a lot we have a low success rate and not getting to the backboard offensively. We’re just creating more shots and I think we’re starting to get that a little bit.”
Though Ohio has had back-to-back wins in thrilling fashion, Smith said the team just has to take it one game at a time.
“We know we are a winning program and we understand how to win,” Smith said. “We’re supposed to win, so we never put our heads down and we never put our heads up — we stay the same.”
@Brandon_Kors
mk277809@ohiou.edu
