# 2002–03 Ohio Bobcats men's basketball team

The 2002–03 Ohio Bobcats men's basketball team represented Ohio University in the college basketball season of 2002–03. The team was coached by Tim O'Shea and played their home games at the Convocation Center. They finished the season 14–16 and 8–10 in MAC play to finish fifth in the MAC East.

## Team players drafted into the NBA

| Round | Pick | Player | NBA Club |
| 2 | 56 | Brandon Hunter | Boston Celtics |

## Preseason

The preseason poll was announced by the league office on October 24, 2002. Ohio was picked first in the MAC East

### Preseason men's basketball poll

(First place votes in parentheses)

#### East Division

* Ohio (22) 199
* Miami (5) 166
* Kent State (7) 155
* Marshall (1) 94
* Akron (1) 89
* Buffalo 58

#### West Division

* Ball State (33) 249
* Western Michigan 191
* Toledo (3) 155
* Northern Illinois 126
* Bowling Green 117
* Central Michigan 113
* Eastern Michigan 50

### Preseason All-MAC

Preseason All-MAC teams :
| Team | Player | Position | Year |
| Preseason All-MAC East | Brandon Hunter | F | Sr. |
Source

## Schedule and results

Source:
| Date time, TV | Opponent | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Regular Season |||||
| 11/30/02* 7:30 pm | at Providence | L 68–91 | 0–1 | Dunkin Donuts Center (6,643) Providence, Rhode Island |
| 12/02/02* 7:00 pm | at Brown | W 75–71 | 1–1 | Paul Bailey Pizzitola Sports Center (1,035) Providence, Rhode Island |
| 12/07/02 7:00 pm | at Toledo | L 71–78 | 1–2 (0–1) | Savage Arena (3,761) Toledo, Ohio |
| 12/10/02* 8:30 pm | at DePaul | L 65–73 | 1–3 (0–1) | Allstate Arena (4,197) Rosemont, Illinois |
| 12/13/02* 7:00 pm | at Boston University | L 57–78 | 1–4 (0–1) | Case Gym (838) Boston, Massachusetts |
| 12/20/02* 7:00 pm | Navy | W 54–52 | 2–4 (0–1) | Convocation Center (4,534) Athens, Ohio |
| 12/23/02* 8:00 pm | at Wisconsin | L 51–75 | 2–5 (0–1) | Kohl Center (17,142) Madison, Wisconsin |
| 12/31/02* 4:00 pm | St. Bonaventure | W 104–101 | 3–5 (0–1) | Convocation Center (4,023) Athens, OH |
| 1/04/03* 4:00 pm | vs. No. 20 Kentucky | L 75–83 | 3–6 (0–1) | U.S. Bank Arena (14,506) Cincinnati, Ohio |
| 1/08/03 7:00 pm | Akron | W 112–104 $^{4OT}$ | 4–6 (1–1) | Convocation Center (6,812) Athens, Ohio |
| 1/11/03 3:00 pm | at Central Michigan | L 84–87 | 4–7 (1–2) | McGuirk Arena (2,585) Mount Pleasant, Michigan |
| 1/15/03 7:00 pm | Northern Illinois | L 61–68 | 4–8 (1–3) | Convocation Center (5,905) Athens, Ohio |
| 1/18/03 2:00 pm | Miami (OH) | L 65–77 | 4–9 (1–4) | Convocation Center (11,827) Athens, Ohio |
| 1/21/03 7:00 pm | at Buffalo | W 72–66 | 5–9 (2–4) | Alumni Arena (1,108) Buffalo, New York |
| 1/28/03 7:00 pm | Bowling Green | L 60–66 $^{OT}$ | 5–10 (2–5) | Convocation Center (5,816) Athens, Ohio |
| 2/01/03 7:00 pm | at Marshall | W 87–85 $^{2OT}$ | 6–10 (3–5) | Henderson Center (6,123) Huntington, West Virginia |
| 2/06/03 7:00 pm | at Ball State | L 68–82 | 6–11 (3–6) | John E. Worthen Arena (4,791) Muncie, Indiana |
| 2/08/03 3:30 pm | Buffalo | W 61–49 | 7–11 (4–6) | Convocation Center (5,532) Athens, Ohio |
| 2/11/03 8:05 pm | at Northern Illinois | L 53–80 | 7–12 (4–7) | Convocation Center (3,002) Dekalb, Illinois |
| 2/15/03 2:00 pm | Kent State | W 74–71 | 8–12 (5–7) | Convocation Center (4,352) Athens, Ohio |
| 2/19/03 7:00 pm | Eastern Michigan | L 73–76 $^{OT}$ | 8–13 (5–8) | Convocation Center (4,102) Athens, Ohio |
| 2/22/03 1:00 pm | Western Mighigan | W 79–72 $^{2OT}$ | 9–13 (6–8) | Convocation Center (4,918) Athens, Ohio |
| 2/23/03 7:00 pm | at Akron | L 82–84 $^{OT}$ | 9–14 (6–9) | James A. Rhodes Arena (2,143) Akron, Ohio |
| 2/26/03* 7:00 pm | Virginia | W 78–72 | 10–14 (6–9) | Convocation Center (7,281) Athens, Ohio |
| 3/01/03 1:00 pm | Marshall | W 70–65 | 11–14 (7–9) | Convocation Center (8,994) Athens, Ohio |
| 3/05/03 7:00 pm | at Miami (OH) | W 64–56 | 12–14 (8–9) | Millett Hall (5,830) Oxford, Ohio |
| 3/08/03 12:00 pm | at Kent State | L 62–73 | 12–15 (8–10) | Memorial A & C Center (4,615) Kent, Ohio |
| MAC Tournament |||||
| 3/10/03 7:30 pm | at Akron First Round | W 79–77 | 13–15 | James A. Rhodes Arena (2,174) Akron, Ohio |
| 3/13/03 2:00 pm | vs. Miami (OH) Quarterfinals | W 65–55 $^{OT}$ | 14–15 | Quicken Loans Arena (4,319) Cleveland, Ohio |
| 3/14/03 8:30 pm | vs. Kent State Semifinals | L 70–73 | 14–16 | Quicken Loans Arena (9,265) Cleveland, Ohio |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern. |||||

## Statistics
### Team statistics

    Final 2002–03 statistics
| Record | Ohio | OPP |
| Scoring | 2139 | 2240 |
| Scoring Average | 71.30 | 74.67 |
| Field goals – Att | 722–1588 | 806–1759 |
| 3-pt. Field goals – Att | 186–513 | – |
| Free throws – Att | 509–747 | – |
| Rebounds | 1006 | 1054 |
| Assists | 426 | |
| Turnovers | 457 | |
| Steals | 189 | |
| Blocked Shots | 76 | |
Source

### Player statistics

| | | | Minutes | Minutes | Scoring | Scoring | Total FGs | Total FGs | Total FGs | 3-point FGs | 3-point FGs | 3-point FGs | Free-Throws | Free-Throws | Free-Throws | Rebounds | Rebounds | Rebounds | Rebounds | | | | | |
| Player | GP | GS | Tot | Avg | Pts | Avg | FG | FGA | Pct | 3FG | 3FA | Pct | FT | FTA | Pct | Off | Def | Tot | Avg | A | PF | TO | Stl | Blk |
| Brandon Hunter | 30 | 30 | 1146 | 38.2 | 644 | 21.5 | 217 | 415 | 0.523 | 11 | 37 | 0.297 | 199 | 335 | 0.594 | 95 | 283 | 378 | 12.6 | 78 | 84 | 108 | 25 | 35 |
| Steve Esterkamp | 30 | 30 | 1124 | 37.5 | 441 | 14.7 | 150 | 344 | 0.436 | 64 | 157 | 0.408 | 77 | 94 | 0.819 | 44 | 101 | 145 | 4.8 | 53 | 96 | 65 | 42 | 9 |
| Sonny Johnson | 17 | 1 | 443 | 26.1 | 244 | 14.4 | 82 | 181 | 0.453 | 17 | 45 | 0.378 | 63 | 79 | 0.797 | 24 | 25 | 49 | 2.9 | 24 | 60 | 48 | 15 | 1 |
| Jaivon Harris | 30 | 30 | 934 | 31.1 | 234 | 7.8 | 75 | 178 | 0.421 | 35 | 95 | 0.368 | 49 | 70 | 0.7 | 21 | 80 | 101 | 3.4 | 94 | 93 | 63 | 40 | 9 |
| Jeff Halbert | 30 | 21 | 850 | 28.3 | 211 | 7 | 69 | 143 | 0.483 | 28 | 70 | 0.4 | 45 | 57 | 0.789 | 34 | 72 | 106 | 3.5 | 65 | 58 | 46 | 21 | 6 |
| Thomas Stephens | 30 | 27 | 837 | 27.9 | 178 | 5.9 | 62 | 154 | 0.403 | 23 | 72 | 0.319 | 31 | 40 | 0.775 | 12 | 42 | 54 | 1.8 | 75 | 78 | 52 | 29 | 8 |
| Delvar Barrett | 22 | 10 | 323 | 14.7 | 109 | 5 | 38 | 82 | 0.463 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 51 | 0.647 | 24 | 32 | 56 | 2.5 | 8 | 38 | 18 | 2 | 4 |
| James Bridgewater | 25 | 0 | 192 | 7.7 | 23 | 0.9 | 11 | 30 | 0.367 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0.25 | 14 | 17 | 31 | 1.2 | 4 | 13 | 14 | 4 | 3 |
| Zach Kiekow | 20 | 1 | 172 | 8.6 | 23 | 1.2 | 8 | 21 | 0.381 | 2 | 10 | 0.2 | 5 | 7 | 0.714 | 1 | 11 | 12 | 0.6 | 19 | 22 | 16 | 6 | 0 |
| Stephen King | 27 | 0 | 218 | 8.1 | 23 | 0.9 | 6 | 30 | 0.2 | 6 | 27 | 0.222 | 5 | 8 | 0.625 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0.1 | 5 | 14 | 11 | 5 | 0 |
| Marin Bota | 11 | 0 | 53 | 4.8 | 8 | 0.7 | 4 | 8 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 0.5 | 1 | 14 | 12 | 0 | 1 |
| Keyon Ingram | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hugh Grant | 3 | 0 | 4 | 1.3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0.7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 30 | - | 0 | - | 2139 | 71.3 | 722 | 1588 | 0.455 | 186 | 513 | 0.363 | 509 | 747 | 0.681 | 304 | 702 | 1006 | 33.5 | 426 | 572 | 457 | 189 | 76 |
| Opponents | 30 | - | 0 | - | 2240 | 74.7 | 806 | 1759 | 0.458 | | | - | | | - | | | 1054 | 35.1 | | | | | |
Source

## Awards and honors
### All-MAC Awards

Postseason All-MAC teams :
| Team | Player | Position | Year |
| All-MAC First team | Brandon Hunter | F | Sr. |
Source