Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty

The OU Bobcats are arriving at the Stroh.

Anyway.

OU was picked 2nd by Blue Ribbon and 4th by the official MAC poll.  Last year, they finished 5th and lost their big man, Dwight Wilson, to graduation.  During the year, they lost 2nd team pre-season All-MAC G AJ Brown to injury....he is out for the year.  Also, Miles Brown, who is a 3FG sharpshooter, missed 8 games in the middle of the year, played four and then missed their last outing. 

They definitely had a disappointing record from pre-MAC play.  They started out ranked 116 and today hit at 168.  They are 7-7 and 6-7 in D1 play. They have decent wins over Troy (174) and Delaware (131), but also lost to Cleveland State (175), GW (180), Youngstown State (161), Marshall (170), Austin Peay (219) and Davidson (128).  

In MAC play, they have played twice at home, losing to UT and beating NIU after trailing at the half.

They have yet to win on the road this year and were 2-7 last year on the road in MAC play, on their way to 10-8 overall.

BG has won 6 out of the last 10 meetings with the Bobcats.  BG has won 5 straight at the Stroh.  The last OU win there was the 2017 game with 4 Falcons suspended and two football players filling in.  Before that, you have to go back to 2014 to get an OU win.  The two teams split last year, BG winning by 9 at home and losing by 34 in what would be the last game Huger coached for the Falcons.

One thing to watch for on OU's stats is that the all games results include a 108-28 win over Defiance.  Most of the stats below count only D1 games.

Despite what you read from BG's press release, OU is not a strong defensive team. They are allowing 1.06 points per possession, which is #210 in the country. They are, however, good on the offensive side, scoring 1.09 a game.  This is where the matchup has the potential to be good with a Falcon team that is doing well on the defensive end.  BG will see if they can put together a consistent 40-minute offensive attack.

OU has a well-rounded attack, where they take excellent care of the ball and are decent at all the other facets. BG doesn't really force turnovers, so that is unlikely to be a factor.  You take care of the ball and add decent shooting on extra possessions, you can be tough to beat. OU takes an average number of 3FGs, and is about average on 2FGs and 3FGs. 

Here, we see things pretty evenly matched.  OU does force some turnovers but they are poor on the offensive boards and give up a lot of FTs.  If BG continues to take care of the ball and can make some FTs, there should be an opportunity.

OU is led by Jaylin Hunter, first-team pre-season All-MAC. He scores 14.4 PPG on a rough 47% and 29% shooting. He leads the MAC in assists and is 2nd in A/TO.  Shereef Mitchell is scoring 13 PPG on 47% and 29%.  He is a grad transfer from Creighton.  

Elmore James is scoring 12.3 PPG and leads the team with 6.4 RPG despite being 6'3".  He is shooting 53% and 29%. AJ Clayton is scoring 12.1 PPG--and highly efficient, at 74% and 43%.  He's the 10th most efficient scorer in D1 to date. 

They play an 8-man rotation and are among the smaller teams in D1.  This could be a factor in BG's favor with their lack of depth on the frontline.

This is a winnable game and a good test.  OU is a 1.5 point road favorite.