Ohio Preview: Shave Your Bobcat!

Buffalo finally got their first MAC win of the season. Granted it is was over a pretty ‘meh’ Miami team, but it was a road win and in the MAC those are gold. UB did a lot of things right in that game despite letting Miami start the contest on a 11-0 run.

Now UB returns home, hoping that some of the success from Oxford follows them back to Alumni Arena. To test the state of the program the Bulls will welcome Ohio and their new coach Jeff Boal.

Out of conference their best win was over St. Bonaventure and their worst loss was to Campbell (#228 Kenpom) to close out their non MAC slate of games.

Most recently, they lost to Bowling Green, but led until the late stages of the contest. Like UB they are now 1-2 in conference.

Ohio has struggled on offense this year, averaging less than 60 points a game and an offenseive efficiency of 0.986. They shoot the ball a bit better than Buffalo but are very tepid on the offensive glass.

UB’s offense is slightly better, based mainly on their ability to rebound. But Ohio is a very good three point shooting team that means they can run on Buffalo if the UB defense does not show up.

The inside defense needs to be solid so that the guards can contest the three, as UB did in the second half against Miami. Brock Bertham, who played well off the bench, may be called upon again so that the smaller UB guards can be more aggressive.

Individually, OU is led by two members of last year’s all freshman team. Jason Preston is scoring 15.4 points per game and Ben Vander Plas is scoring 14.4 per game. They are built young and have talent.

Playing at home is clearly not the advantage it has been in years past, but if the Bulls have really found their footing they should come away with a win, and even out their conference record.

Tipoff is at 7:00PM and the game is on ESPN+