Sports
Ohio Men’s & Women’s Basketball Season Previews
By: Andrew Bowlby, Evan Johnson
Posted on:
ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — The college basketball season is nearly here and for both the Ohio Men and Women, they kick their respective seasons off Monday in the MAC Sun Belt Challenge.
Ohio Men’s Basketball will start its 2025-26 season at home at the Convo hosting Arkansas State for the third time ever. The Bobcats fell to the Red Wolves in the 2023-24 season 100-87. The only other meeting was all the way back on Nov. 20, 2011, in Athens and Ohio won that one 69-54.
For Ohio Women’s Basketball, they will start their season on the road facing Texas State. The two programs have one prior meeting, and it came in the middle of the 2023-24 season when Ohio fell 80-71 to the Bobcats.
With the season tipping off Monday, we have a full preview for what to expect from both teams in 2025-26.
Ohio Women’s Basketball Preview
Last Season Recap
Last season, Ohio Women’s Basketball finished the season with only six wins. With four of those wins coming in MAC play. Two of those conference wins came back-to-back in late February. That opened the door for the Bobcats to sneak into the MAC tournament, but the season ended with four straight losses.
Several injuries contributed to a lack of consistency on the court. The offense never found its groove throughout the season, only averaging 58.2 points per game. The Bobcats had players who were able to take over games, such as Bailey Tabeling, who eclipsed 20 or more points in three games, but the team could never put everything together.
Ohio attempted the second-most three pointers in the MAC, while shooting a mere 28.6% from behind the arc. They also lacked a true point guard; Jaya McClure missed the entire season with an injury, and there was a revolving door of players who took the ball up the court. Turnovers have plagued this team for several seasons, and there was no improvement last year as they averaged 18 turnovers a game.
This season, Head Coach Bob Boldon says Tabeling will have a different role than the one she had last season.
“She got thrown into the point 80% of the time, and it took away from the things that she came here to do well. She’s shooting the ball much better simply because she’s playing without the ball in her hands more than in the preseason. We’ve done a nice job of moving without the ball, which she always has.”
2025-26 Schedule & Key Games
That is in the past, and this year’s squad is focused on this season. They will have a chance to pick up some early wins, as Ohio does not play a single Power four school this season.
The Bobcats will host Wright State on Nov 24 after losing to the Raiders last season. Ohio will see a familiar face on Dec 5 as UIC and former Bobcat, Jaya McClure, will return to Athens.
Conference play will start on New Year’s Eve at Central Michigan and will conclude on Mar 7 with the Battle of the Bricks being hosted in the Convocation Center.
Key Departures
The roster will have a new look after losing a lot of production. Kennedi Watkins, Kate Dennis, and Anyssa Jones all graduated. The Bobcats also lost Jaya McClure and Emma Barnett to the transfer portal. Those players accounted for over 45 percent of scoring production last season.
Newcomers
Losing a handful of players means Head Coach Bob Boldon had to dip into the transfer portal to fill out the roster. Ohio welcomes three transfers this season. Nicholls State transfer, Elli Garnett, is a familiar face, as she is the sister of the current assistant coach and former player, Abby Garnett. Bella Ranallo will look to return to the court after missing the 2024 season at Clemson. Ohio was also able to get Antonicia Moultrie in the portal from Garden City Community College. Moultrie averaged a double-double over her two seasons with the Broncos.
Two freshmen also joined the team this year. ReRe Jennings averaged over 18 points in her senior season at Harker Heights High School in Killeen, Texas, and was also a 2025 McDonald’s All-American nominee. Vivienne Macheck signed just over a month ago after she won the U23 Swiss National Championship.
Coach Boldon is excited about the freshmen coming into the program.
“Their athleticism was what really struck us about both of them. You know, they’re both very athletic kids. And can do all the things, as you probably noticed from their stats, their kids who score the basketball well, they rebound the basketball well. They both have good length. You know, they both have played it at a high level,” said Boldon.
Despite a handful of new faces, the team has been able to build a connection over the offseason. “You know, we’re growing and learning each other’s games each and every day. So I think that’s been really good. I like the chemistry that we have,” Aliah McWhorter said.
Head Coach
A decade ago, the Bobcats were in the MAC tournament year in and year out. They were guaranteed to win a couple of games in the tournament and compete for a MAC Championship. Their last MAC title came in that 2015 season, and the last regular-season title came in 2016.
In recent times, it has been a struggle even to make the tournament, and Ohio hasn’t won a MAC tournament game since 2021.
Ohio has not finished the season with a winning record since the 2020-21 season.
Pre-Season Awards/Coaches Poll Pick
Ohio will have a chance to exceed expectations after being picked tenth in the MAC preseason poll.
Even with being picked near the bottom in the MAC, the expectation stays the same: win a MAC Championship.
“I do want us to win a championship. I think we’re very capable. We’ve worked super hard this offseason, and as of right now, we have a lot of work to do still. But I think this group could go really far. And I think we have a lot of faith in each other, and I just think we’re headed in the right direction.” Transfer Elli Garnett on the expectations for this season.
Ohio Men’s Basketball Preview
Last Season Recap
Because of the injury problems, Ohio underachieved the preseason expectations. The Bobcats were picked to win the MAC by the preseason poll, but that came nowhere close to being the case.
Ohio did make the conference tournament but fell in an overtime thriller against Toledo in the first round of the tournament.
The signature win of last season was certainly the 84-67 victory over the conference champion Akron in the Convo. If Ohio can capture those moments of solid play this season, they will easily contend for the MAC.
2025-26 Schedule & Key Games
Boals loaded up the non-conference schedule for the 2025-26 season, and Ohio doesn’t have any early games to help settle them into the season. They have already played a pair of exhibitions games against Wright State and Ohio State.
The season begins with the first half of the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge as Ohio hosts Arkansas State to kick the season off. The last time the two teams played was in the 2023-24 season when Ohio lost to the Red Wolves 100-87.
Ohio turns around and hosts Illinois State three nights later before their first road trip of the season taking on Saint Mary’s and No. 11 Louisville.
Ohio will also be taking part in the Sunshine Slam this season, facing three opponents in Bethune-Cookman, George Mason and either Florida Atlantic or Loyola Marymount.
The final big non-conference games include a home date with Marshall and a trip to Cleveland to face St. Bonaventure.
MAC play begins on Dec. 20 against Bowling Green at home. The biggest MAC game of the season is unquestionably the home meeting with Akron. The Bobcats will welcome the Zips back to the Convo on a January Friday night at 8 p.m. to a national TV audience.
“It’s got to be one of the harder [schedules] I think in the history here,” Boals said. “For us it’s going to be three days and three games in March. We’re really trying to prepare ourselves for that.”
Key Departures
Ohio had a number of key pieces from last year’s roster to depart from the program. Arguably the most significant comes with AJ Clayton graduating from Ohio. Clayton was a staple for the Bobcats over the last couple of seasons and his shooting and presence will be missed.
The Bobcats also lost a trio of guards in Elmore James, AJ Brown and Shereef Mitchell. James and Brown both transferred to Ball State and Florida respectively. Mitchell graduated and will be sorely missed for his defense and passing.
There will also be no Vic Searls down low this year as he graduated from the program last season.
Newcomers
The newcomers for this year’s team have been driving the excitement for this season. Most notably with Javan Simmons.
“A vocal leader. He’s been dynamic in that aspect holding everyone accountable, including himself,” Boals said on Simmons.
Boals also said that Simmons is Ohio’s first true low block presence since Dwight Wilson.
Ohio also added sharpshooter Dior Connors. In his lone season with App State last year, Connors shot 40.1% from deep, the third highest in the Sun Belt.
The other main transfer is Jalen Breath. He will contribute to the Ohio front court as a rebounding big that scored 6.6 ppg in each of his last two seasons at UNC-Greensboro.
“Pretty seamless transition. I think it’s a credit to who they are as people,” Boals said. “If you ask all four of those guys who came in what they thought, you would’ve thought they’ve been here two or three years.”
Ohio will also have the services of Kiir Kuany and Jesse Burris this season after both redshirted last year.
The freshman on this year’s roster includes JJ Kelly, who saw some action against OSU, Zay Mosley and Jordan Fisher.
Head Coach
This season he’ll be looking to get back up to the 20-win plateau for the third time in his time in Athens. He’s also looking to lead the Bobcats back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2021.
Last season was Ohio’s worst under Boals as the Bobcats finished with just 16 wins. Due in part to injuries plus a tough schedule.
Pre-Season Awards/Coaches Poll Pick
Ohio was picked fourth in the MAC preseason coaches’ poll only behind Akron, Miami and Kent State. The Bobcats also received one tournament champion vote.
Jackson Paveletzke was selected to the preseason All-MAC First Tema and Simmons were selected to the second team.
Ohio’s preseason Kenpom ranking is at 154, fourth highest in the MAC.