Sports
Bobcats Focus On Defense In Preparation For Morehead State
< < Back to bobcats-focus-defense-preparation-morehead-stateThe Bobcats travel to Morehead, Ky., on Saturday to take on the Morehead State Eagles, for their first of six straight games away from the Convocation Center.
The ‘Cats and head coach Bob Boldon take on a Morehead State team that currently sits at 2-1 on the year. The Eagles, led by head coach Tom Hodges, knocked off Norfolk State and Lipscomb to start the season 2-0 before losing to George Mason earlier this week.
Boldon stressed at practice the need for improved defensive play after the Bobcats gave up 88 points to Xavier in their opener.
“We tried to get better at getting back on transitions and getting organized,” Boldon said. “We tried to work on guarding the ball. We tried to clean up our help side rotations.”
Boldon and the ‘Cats are using Saturday’s game against the Eagles to determine what is the next step to make in terms of defensive improvement.
The defense will have its hands full against Morehead State’s high-powered offense and senior guard Terrice Robinson. Robinson has led the Eagles in scoring with 82 points in their first three games and put up 38 in their win against Lipscomb. Robinson isn’t the only Eagle guard giving defenses problems. Junior guard Almesha Jones is as well. Jones has two double-doubles in the Eagles’ past two games scoring 13 points and hauling in 11 boards against Lipscomb as well as 11 points and 10 assists against George Mason. Slowing down these two guards has been in Ohio’s playbook this entire week.
“They have a few players that can either shoot or drive,” said freshman forward Destini Cooper, “so we’ve been trying to keep our defensive on the inside because they are a predominantly driving team, so were trying to keep them from coming to the middle.”
Cooper and company have made it very clear that they proved their offense firepower against Xavier and that defense is the focus of the future.
Morehead State’s offense has been led by its ability to create turnovers on the defensive side of the ball. The Eagles have 28 steals in their three games, 25 of which came in their two wins. The ‘Cats will need be constantly aware on their possessions in order not to give up quick fast break points off of turnovers.
Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 16.