Sports
A Lot to be Thankful for as Ohio Takes on Tennessee Tech
By: Mitchell Lyons
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As you get over your Thanksgiving Day hangover and rest from a long day of Black Friday shopping, the Ohio Bobcats will be taking on the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles.
For Ohio, this is the final game of the Global Sports Shootout and a chance to go 4-0 in the tournament and to begin the season. Besides the unblemished record, there is a lot to be thankful for this holiday season.
DEFENSE
Anyone who watched the Ohio Bobcats play last year knows they had to get better on defense. They worked on it everyday in the offseason and it has paid dividends. Ohio is allowing 67.7 points per game, 7.1 points fewer than last year. They have held opponents to 38 percent shooting, which is down five points from last year.
DEPTH
At the end of last year, Ohio head coach Saul Phillips played six or seven guys every game. This year, Ohio has nine guys averaging double-digit minutes. In the opener against Southern University, Phillips played nine guys in the first eight minutes. In the game against Georgia Tech, no bench points were scored but Phillips said, “I won’t play the rest of the preseason with that minute allotment. That was I really want to beat an ACC team and this is my rotation for one night.” No nonstarter played more than nine minutes but Phillips is not concerned with the lack of bench points and fans will see a deeper rotation in the future.
DOWNTOWN
One of the main ingredients of “Saul Ball” is the three-ball. Last year Ohio shot 38.6 percent as a team from deep. This year Ohio is shooting a blistering 47.8 percent. Redshirt senior Kenny Kaminski has been on fire shooting 66.7 percent (14 of 21). Kaminski is one of four Bobcats shooting over 40 percent from beyond the arc. While it is going to be near impossible to keep up this percentage all year, Ohio is moving the ball well and getting open shots.
After picking up a win over an ACC opponent in Georgia Tech, Ohio is feeling confident as they head into the game against the Golden Eagles. If common opponents are any indication, Ohio should be fine on Friday. The Golden Eagles lost by 15 (70-55) to Georgia Tech and by seven (78-71) to Sam Houston State, both teams that Ohio has beaten. But Ohio should not take them for granted: the Golden Eagles are tough on the glass, and average over seven steals per game.
Despite practice on Wednesday and Thursday, players on Ohio’s roster had a chance to go home for Thanksgiving if they wanted to because practice was late in the day on Thursday.
Ohio could be without the services of Kaminski, who hurt his shoulder in the game against Georgia Tech. Phillips said he “will sit out (of practice) until Thursday and then there will be a decision on that day what we are doing going forward.”
There will not be a hangover for the Bobcats. They will be ready to go and Phillips doesn’t believe in any curses.
“I’ve never believed in the Thanksgiving Curse, where you eat a bunch of stuffing and lose the rest of your games,” Phillips said, adding, “I don’t know. I just made it up.”
The first game after Thanksgiving last year, Ohio defeated Marshall, 85-70. They look to continue avoiding any curses as they take on the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles from the Convocation Center. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.