After practically a ten years of ready, Ohio is back in The Large Dance. The Bobcats’ 1st-round opponent, Virginia, is the reigning NCAA Tournament champion and has the arsenal capable of tearing them apart.
Saturday night’s sport is a clash of playstyles. Ohio mentor Jeff Boals has crafted a crew that runs online games on its own tempo and has the 17th-greatest scoring offense in the NCAA. Cavaliers mentor Tony Bennett has invested his 12 a long time in Charlottesville perfecting a pack line protection that strangles superior-scoring opponents.
The Bobcats are apparent in their objectives. They want to make waves, but like in the Mid-American Convention Tournament, there’s no margin for error. An off-night time implies a bus experience back again to Athens.
Ohio may continue to have yet another upset up its sleeve, nevertheless. Virginia was struck with COVID-19 previous 7 days and only arrived in Indianapolis on Friday afternoon. Techniques for the Cavaliers have been denied thanks to quarantine, and had been only permitted confined conditioning and shooting sessions.
Tipoff is slated for 7:15 p.m. in Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana.
Below is a recreation day tutorial to stick to along, look at stat leaders and prospective starters, a breakdown of the Cavaliers and who has the edge on the two offense and defense.
How to comply with together
In which to check out: Ohio’s sport on Saturday can be watched on truTV or on the internet below.
How to listen: Russ Eisenstein and Rob Cornelius will be guiding the mic broadcasting the video game on the Ohio IMG Sports Network. The broadcast is out there on line here.
Probable starters and stats
Ohio:
00 Jason Preston
03 Ben Roderick
04 Dwight Wilson III
05 Ben Vander Plas
15 Lunden McDay
Stat leaders: Preston sales opportunities in points for each match (17.1), helps for each sport (6.9) and is 2nd in rebounds for each game (6.7) and industry purpose share (53.6). Wilson’s 66.51 industry target share is the next-optimum in the nation, and he qualified prospects the Bobcats in rebounds for each match (7.6).
Virginia:
00 Kihei Clark
02 Reece Beekman
10 Sam Hauser
25 Trey Murphy III
30 Jay Huff
Stat leaders: Huff is capturing 60 percent from the industry this period. He averages 13.13 points per activity and 7.13 rebounds for each sport. Hauser qualified prospects with a 43.4 taking pictures percentage from over and above the arc and falls just at the rear of Huff when taking pictures from the field. Clark tops the roster with 4.58 helps per match.
Virginia breakdown
All-time collection: Ohio leads 2-1.
Previous time: The Bobcats pulled out a 78-72 win in The Convo around the Cavaliers on Feb. 26, 2003.
Virginia scouting: The past week has not been kind to Virginia. A constructive COVID-19 exam last 7 days shut down functions in the center of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament and prevented any observe exterior of conditioning and taking pictures sessions.
How Ohio wins: Ohio demands to exploit Virginia’s lack of practice and gain the rebound fight. Less complicated reported than done. The Cavaliers are amid the most effective defensive teams in the nation. Virginia holds opponents to an common of 60.5 details for each match and averages 31.8 rebounds for each game. Ohio has enhanced its rebounding talents because late January, and Saturday is the litmus examination.
Player to look at: Sam Hauser. He’s the most correct 3-issue shooter in the ACC with a 43.4 taking pictures share over and above the arc. Hauser averages 16 details for every game and is capturing 51.8 percent from the industry. Ohio might have a difficult time shutting him down if Virginia is not as out of shape as envisioned.
Who has the edge?
Offense: Ohio averages 80.6 details for each match and taking pictures 48.9 percent from the industry. The starting off 5 is nicely-balanced, and the bench has gotten deeper in latest weeks. Ohio has trustworthy off-the-bench muscle mass in freshman Mark Sears, who averages 8.8 details for every activity and 47.5 % from the subject.
Protection: One more no-brainer. Virginia allows the sixth-fewest points for each recreation in the country, and averages 31.8 rebounds for every game. The Cavaliers like to just take it gradual and drain the life out of their opponents. No workforce has set up 70 or far more details on Virginia considering the fact that Florida Condition in mid-February.