# 1977–78 Ohio Bobcats men's basketball team

The 1977–78 Ohio Bobcats men's basketball team represented Ohio University as a member of the Mid-American Conference in the college basketball season of 1977–78. The team was coached by Dale Bandy in his fourth season at Ohio. They played their home games at Convocation Center. The Bobcats finished with a record of 13–14 and seventh in the MAC regular season with a conference record of 6–10.

## Schedule

| Date time, TV | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record |
| Regular Season ||||||
| 11/25/1977* | vs. Rhode Island IPTAY Invitational | L 69–81 | 0–1 |
| 11/26/1977* | vs. TCU IPTAY Invitational | W 78–64 | 1–1 |
| 12/1/1977* | Cleveland State | W 79–66 | 2–1 |
| 12/5/1977* | Youngstown State | W 67–64 | 3–1 |
| 12/7/1977* | Marietta | W 73–69 | 4–1 |
| 12/10/1977 | Northern Illinois | L 76–80 | 4–2 (0–1) |
| 12/16/1977* | vs. Grambling Cajun Classic | W 60–53 | 5–2 |
| 12/17/1977* | vs. Louisiana Cajun Classic | L 81–98 | 5–3 |
| 12/20/1977* | at SMU | L 77–83 | 5–4 |
| 1/4/1978 | at Kent State | W 73–59 | 6–4 (1–1) |
| 1/7/1978 | Ball State | W 75–71 | 7–4 (2–1) |
| 1/11/1978* | Marshall | W 68–56 | 8–4 |
| 1/14/1978 | at Miami (OH) | L 77–90 | 8–5 (2–2) |
| 1/18/1978 | Western Michigan | L 59–73 | 8-6 (2-3) |
| 1/25/1978 | at Central Michigan | L 71–77 | 8-7 (2-4) |
| 2/1/1978* | Loyola (IL) | W 86–80 $^{OT}$ | 9–7 |
| 2/4/1978 | at Toledo | W 72–71 | 10–7 (3–4) |
| 2/6/1978 | at Bowling Green | L 66–68 | 10–8 (3–5) |
| 2/8/1978 | Kent State | W 68–54 | 11–8 (4–5) |
| 2/11/1978 | at Ball State | L 77–82 | 11–9 (4–6) |
| 2/15/1978* | at Virginia Tech | L 83–105 | 11–10 |
| 2/18/1978 | Miami (OH) | L 66–70 | 11–11 (4–7) |
| 2/20/1978 | Eastern Michigan | W 66–62 | 12–11 (5–7) |
| 2/22/1978 | at Western Michigan | L 82–88 | 12–12 (5–8) |
| 2/25/1978 | Bowling Green | L 76–90 | 12–13 (5–9) |
| 3/1/1978 | Central Michigan | W 105–94 | 13–13 (6–9) |
| 3/4/1978 | at Northern Illinois | L 70–76 | 13–14 (6–10) |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time. ||||||
Source:

## Statistics
### Team statistics

    Final 1977–78 statistics
| Record | Ohio | OPP |
| Scoring | 2000 | 2024 |
| Scoring Average | 74.07 | 74.96 |
| Field goals – Att | 785–1707 | 810–1765 |
| Free throws – Att | 430–610 | 402–571 |
| Rebounds | 1082 | 1101 |
| Assists | 387 | 353 |
| Turnovers | | |
| Steals | 156 | 150 |
| Blocked Shots | 64 | 64 |
Source

### Player statistics

| | | | Minutes | Minutes | Scoring | Scoring | Total FGs | Total FGs | Total FGs | Free-Throws | Free-Throws | Free-Throws | Rebounds | Rebounds | | | | | |
| Player | GP | GS | Tot | Avg | Pts | Avg | FG | FGA | Pct | FT | FTA | Pct | Tot | Avg | A | PF | TO | Stl | Blk |
| Tim Joyce | 25 | - | 902 | 36.1 | 548 | 21.9 | 230 | 417 | 0.552 | 88 | 113 | 0.779 | 151 | 6.0 | 46 | 80 | | 22 | 5 |
| Steve Skaggs | 24 | - | 903 | 37.6 | 487 | 20.3 | 200 | 414 | 0.483 | 87 | 118 | 0.737 | 114 | 4.8 | 37 | 56 | | 15 | 4 |
| Bucky Walden | 25 | - | 791 | 31.6 | 237 | 9.5 | 89 | 215 | 0.414 | 59 | 75 | 0.787 | 74 | 3.0 | 94 | 70 | | 38 | 5 |
| Ernie Whitus | 27 | - | 674 | 25.0 | 227 | 8.4 | 77 | 187 | 0.412 | 73 | 111 | 0.658 | 184 | 6.8 | 38 | 92 | | 7 | 26 |
| Brewer Gray | 25 | - | 731 | 29.2 | 154 | 6.2 | 67 | 181 | 0.370 | 20 | 41 | 0.488 | 230 | 9.2 | 54 | 75 | | 19 | 12 |
| Bob Leon | 25 | - | 394 | 15.8 | 86 | 3.4 | 20 | 38 | 0.526 | 46 | 59 | 0.780 | 28 | 1.1 | 68 | 45 | | 18 | 0 |
| Jan Smoljan | 25 | - | 297 | 11.9 | 72 | 2.9 | 24 | 64 | 0.375 | 24 | 36 | 0.667 | 31 | 1.2 | 24 | 28 | | 11 | 2 |
| Jim Zalenka | 22 | - | 241 | 11.0 | 70 | 3.2 | 29 | 78 | 0.372 | 12 | 21 | 0.571 | 56 | 2.5 | 11 | 33 | | 3 | 5 |
| Bill Littlefield | 19 | - | 111 | 5.8 | 46 | 2.4 | 19 | 46 | 0.413 | 8 | 12 | 0.667 | 9 | 0.5 | 10 | 27 | | 8 | 3 |
| John Patterson | 23 | - | 266 | 5.2 | 33 | 1.7 | 16 | 34 | 0.471 | 1 | 8 | 0.125 | 35 | 0.6 | 0 | 22 | | 2 | 2 |
| Mark Lauretti | 13 | - | 67 | 11.6 | 22 | 1.4 | 9 | 22 | 0.409 | 4 | 6 | 0.667 | 8 | 1.5 | 5 | 13 | | 2 | 0 |
| Jim Marhulik | 16 | - | 52 | 3.3 | 15 | 0.9 | 4 | 7 | 0.571 | 7 | 8 | 0.875 | 10 | 0.6 | 0 | 12 | | 10 | 0 |
| Mike Borden | 4 | - | 14 | 3.5 | 3 | 0.8 | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 1 | 2 | 0.500 | 1 | 0.3 | 0 | 1 | | 1 | 0 |
| Greg Winbush | 2 | - | 5 | 2.5 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 3 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 1 | | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 27 | - | - | - | 2000 | 74.1 | 785 | 1707 | 0.460 | 430 | 610 | 0.705 | 1082 | 40.1 | 387 | 555 | | 156 | 64 |
| Opponents | 27 | - | - | - | 2024 | 75.0 | 810 | 1765 | 0.459 | 402 | 571 | 0.704 | 1101 | 40.8 | 353 | 582 | | 150 | 64 |
Source