The Bobcats will play their final non-conference game of the season on Tuesday in The Convo.
Ohio will return to The Convo on Tuesday to play its final non-conference game of the 2014-15 campaign against North Carolina-Wilmington (UNCW).
The Bobcats are coming off a four-game, 10-day road trip in which it took a bus to play in Evansville, Indiana, before then taking multiple flights to-and-from Honolulu, Hawaii for three games in the Diamond Head Classic.
Although Ohio lost three of its four games during the trip — and has lost five of its past six — it may be finding its identity at the right time, as Mid-American Conference play will begin on Jan. 7 against Northern Illinois. For the first time since 2004, the Bobcats (4-6) will enter MAC play with a losing record.
Ohio played some of its best and worst basketball of the season during its trip away from Athens. The Bobcats lost an overtime game to Evansville (10-2), suffered a 28-point loss to George Washington (9-3), turned around and won by 21 points against DePaul (6-7) the next day in its best offensive game thus far, before then losing to Nebraska (8-4) — a team predicted to finish near the top of the Big Ten.
Win or lose against the Seahawks on Tuesday, it will be the Bobcats' final chance to identify parts of its game that need fixed before entering MAC play.
Redshirt senior guard Javarez “Bean” Willis is in a groove and has emerged as Ohio’s best scorer. He’s second in the MAC in scoring, averaging a team-best 16.2 points per game. Willis has scored 46 total points in the past two games, while fellow senior guard Stevie Taylor has been taken out of the starting rotation and has played fewer than 20 minutes during those games.
The Bobcats’ other senior, Maurice Ndour, has continued to play well and his energy, at times, has led Ohio to playing at its best. He’s averaging 14 points and eight rebounds per game.
That said, Ohio is a young team and is still trying to play as a cohesive unit. Coach Saul Phillips has started three underclassmen the past two games with freshmen Ryan Taylor and Mike Laster, as well as sophomore Antonio Campbell, earning the starting nods.
ABOUT THE OPPONENT: UNCW (5-5) is also coming off a loss to a Big Ten team, as it fell 108-82 against Minnesota on Saturday. The Seahawks had momentum before starting a three-game road trip after hanging with No. 5 Louisville and winning against their next two opponents. But they have not won their first two games of their trip and are looking to get about .500 in their last game before also beginning conference play.
SEAHAWKS PLAYER TO WATCH: Freddie Jackson, a 6-foot-4 senior guard, leads UNCW with 16.5 points per game — more almost five points than any of his teammates. Jackson is also averaging more than six rebounds per game and scored a team-high 21 points against Minnesota.
LAST MEETING: Ohio posted an 85-47 win against UNCW victory in November of 2012. Stevie Taylor is the only Bobcats player still on the roster from that game, in which he didn’t score.
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