Sports
Bobcats Face Tough Road Test Against Richmond
By: Michael Drapcho
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Following a matchup with No. 22/20 UMass, Ohio’s nonconference schedule does not get any easier, as the team will travel to Virginia to take on an 8-3 Richmond Spiders squad Sunday.
Ohio has struggled on the road this season, as the ‘Cats are 1-2 away from the Convo with the losses coming to Ohio State and a 3-9 Oakland team. Even in Ohio’s lone road win, the team could not put away a struggling Morgan State team, needing a last second layup from Stevie Taylor to seal the win.
Richmond is no Ohio State, who is undefeated and ranked third in the country, but it is also no Oakland or Morgan State. The Spiders’ three losses this season came against teams that have a combined 26-7 record.
Richmond recently lost to Wake Forest (9-2) 76-66 in overtime. Senior guard Cedrick Lindsay led the Spiders in the game with 18 points. Lindsay has led Richmond all season, averaging 18.2 points per game while shooting 45 percent from the field.
Richmond has two other players averaging double figure points in junior guard Kendall Anthony and sophomore forward Terry Allen. Anthony averages 12.1 points per game. He only shoots 41 percent from the field, though. Allen, on the other hand, is efficient as he averages 10.3 points per game while shooting 54 percent from the field.
The Spiders do not score a ton of points as they only average 70.2 points per game. They do play tough defense, however. They have given up more than 70 points only three times this season, and all three times Richmond lost the contest. One of the keys for Ohio Sunday will be putting points on the board and breaking that 70-point mark.
Another key for Ohio will be its defensive rotations. In Ohio’s loss to UMass, the Minutemen got layup after layup because Ohio’s defenders on the weak side were slow to rotate over and play help defense. Ohio will also have to work for good shots against Richmond. UMass played extremely tough perimeter defense against the Bobcats and forced them into some quick shots.
The game is set to tip off at 1 p.m. in the Robins Center Sunday.