The UB Bulls (18-7, 10-6 MAC) have redemption on their minds tonight, as they travel to Athens, Ohio, to take on the Ohio University Bobcats (16-9, 10-6 MAC).
In a previous match-up between the two teams, the Bobcats beat the Bulls 92-90 at Alumni Arena earlier this season. The game is big for both teams, as they both need a win to improve their status for the Mid American Conference tournament.
Though the first game between these two teams ended negatively for the Bulls, UB head coach Reggie Witherspoon does not foresee any changes in the game plan this time around, although he points to solid overall execution as an intangible.
"I'd like to see a different outcome from last time," said Witherspoon. "But we have to do a better job rebounding, we have to do a better job defending the basketball, keeping the basketball in front of us."
The Bulls come into this game riding a five-game winning streak, their longest of the season, but they have not played a game since defeating Marshall 68-55 last Wednesday. Witherspoon said he is thankful for the week off because it has given the team the energy to finish the season strong.
"It gives us an opportunity to rest," said Witherspoon. "We've been traveling and playing so much, we wanted to get a couple of days off, especially so the team can freshen up and recharge their batteries."
In the first game between UB and Ohio, Ohio guard Sonny Troutman had a huge game with 21 points, four rebounds, and seven assists. Witherspoon wants to make sure that Troutman does not have a repeat performance, without compromising the defensive pressure on the rest of the Bobcats.
"We want to do a better job on Troutman; he's a very good basketball player," said Witherspoon. "We don't want to do that at the expense of letting someone else do the same things that he did. We want to do a better job in general of guarding the basketball."
On the season, Troutman is averaging 12 points, four rebounds and three assists a game, this is not consistent with the game that Troutman had against UB earlier in the year. That said, UB still has to be careful, as he is Ohio's most explosive scorer.
He is not, however, the Mid-American Conference's East division player of the week. That title goes to his teammate, freshman forward Leon Williams. Williams averaged 15 points and 11.5 rebounds in the Bobcats' last two games, both victories over Eastern Michigan and Marshall.
The story of this season's Ohio team may sound familiar to fans that followed the UB program last year. A season ago, Ohio had a down year going 12-19, but this year led by underclassmen like Williams and Troutman, and junior Mychal Green, Ohio has become a solid contender for the MAC title.
At the moment, UB is in a four-way tie for second place in the MAC East division, one win away from being tied for first place. In total, there are six teams in the MAC who own a 10-6 conference record, all chasing the Miami (Ohio) RedHawks' 11-5 record.
"This is a different conference than many of the conferences around the country," said Witherspoon. "This kind of thing happens either when there is parity, or when there are a lot of great teams. Sometimes you can have parity without a high quality of play; in this case, we have both."
UB and Ohio will tip off tonight at 7 p.m. at Ohio's Convocation Center. Afterwards, UB will return home for its season finale and senior day, against Akron on Saturday, March 5.
Photo: Courtesy of SUNY
