Sports
Instant Reaction: Ohio Loses Second Straight Road Game
< < Back to instant-reaction-ohio-loses-second-straight-road-gameThe Bobcats dropped their second straight road game in an 84-58 loss to Memphis Wednesday night. Poor Ohio shooting and Memphis’ strong play down low is what ultimately led to the loss.
Strong start: The Bobcats started the night off strong with an 8-2 lead off three-pointers by T.J. Hall and Walter Offutt, but that was the largest lead they held in the entire first half.
The Bobcats had nine turnovers, and Memphis took advantage to score 13 points. Memphis also outscored Ohio 22-6 in the paint.
The Tigers saw Geron Johnson come out and have a career-high 13 points in the first half, 21 for the game. He and Shaq Goodwin – seven points, six rebounds in the first half – commanded the Tigers to a 36-28 halftime lead.
Ohio was able to keep the game close thanks to Ivo Baltic and D.J. Cooper, who each contributed six points.
Bad finish: Ohio was outscored 48-30 in the second half, as Memphis struck early and often on the Bobcats.
It started off as the Goodwin show, as the freshman center hit the Tigers’ first 10 points of the second half. Ohio allowed 26 points in the paint, which made it difficult to initiate a comeback.
As Memphis continued to hurt the Bobcats in the paint, their outside shot began to fall as well. After going 1-of-10 in the first half, the Tigers turned it around, going 5-of-8 from beyond the arc. When Memphis is hitting their outside shots, they’re nearly impossible to stop.
Not-so-fast break: Ohio often relies on their ability to cause turnovers and transition for easy buckets. Tonight was the second straight game Ohio only had six steals, half of what they averaged heading into this two game-road trip.
Memphis had 23 points off turnovers and 22 fast break points. Ohio did not have the same success, with four and two points, respectively.
Post struggles: The lack of height in their lineup has hurt the Bobcats in the past, and they knew Memphis would challenge them down low with Goodwin and Tarik Black, but they surely didn’t anticipate this kind of production from the Memphis bigs.
The Tigers outscored Ohio 48-22 in the paint to go along with their 38-27 rebounding advantage. Goodwin’s early start in the second half set the tone for Memphis in their strong ending.
The one bright spot for Ohio was Jon Smith. The forward had 12 points and seven rebounds down low for the Bobcats.
Shooting woes: Ohio’s offensive strength is their outside shooting, but they struggled the entire game to get any shots to fall.
Cooper had a strong game with 19 points and shot 4-of-8 from three, but the rest of the team contributed for 39 points on 2-of-17 from beyond the arc. Nick Kellogg was not his typical self, scoring only three points and going 0-of-2 from three.
Christian on turning the losing skid around at home: “I mean every game is going to be big. You’ve just got to try to keep getting better, and we will. We’ll get back to it and try to get better Saturday.”
Up next: Ohio returns home Saturday, looking for their first win in 10 days against Oakland. The Golden Grizzlies are 2-6 on the year. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m.