Ohio hit their first 3 3 pointers, and 6 of their first 7. They didn’t really slow down the rest of the night. It was always going to be a tough game for Western Michigan. Ohio is one of the better teams in the MAC, and the Broncos are a work in progress. That work took a step back tonight.
On the Ohio side, they played great. Or more to the point, they shot great. They shot 51% from beyond the arc, making 16 three pointers. That fantastic shooting was pretty much the difference in the game.
At times, OU got a little sloppy, trying ally-oops and a lot three pointers. The former didn’t usually work, but the latter certainly did.
Antonio Campbell was particularly effective, going 6-9 from beyond the arc. The Bobcats forward also pulled down 12 rebounds to go with his 22 points. Kenny Kaminski added 12 points, going 4 of 6 on threes.
12 Bobcats managed to score in the game, with the starters encouraging the bench players that rarely score. That sort of thing happens when most shots drop.
On the Broncos side, things were much more glum. Their shots weren’t dropping, and they committed 17 turnovers. That’s a hard stat to overcome, especially when you can’t score.
They held their own on the boards, thanks largely to guards Thomas Wilder and Tucker Haymond. Wilder had 10, Haymond 8.
Quite frankly, it would have taken a better than average performance by WMU, and a weak performance by Ohio for the Broncos to pull out the win. The opposite happened.
My take from this game is that Ohio is a really good team. I already knew that. They wont shoot over 50% from three point land every game, though. Western isn’t quite as bad as they played tonight, either. OU is certainly the better squad, but if they played 10 times, I think the final margin of victory average for OU would be closer to 10 than 33.