# 2018–19 Ohio Bobcats men's basketball team

The 2018–19 Ohio Bobcats men's basketball team represented Ohio University during the 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Bobcats, led by fifth-year head coach Saul Phillips, played their home games at the Convocation Center in Athens, Ohio as a member of the East Division of the Mid-American Conference. In non-conference play they had wins over eventual MAAC champion Iona, and both co-champions of the Big South in Radford and Campbell as well as a win over their rival and eventual CIT champion Marshall. They finished the season 14–17 overall, 6–12 in MAC play to finish in last place in the East Division. As the No. 10 seed in the MAC tournament, they were defeated in the first round by Northern Illinois.
On March 13, 2019, head coach Saul Phillips was fired. He finished his five-year tenure at Ohio with an 81–77 overall record. Five days later, the school named Ohio alum Jeff Boals, head coach at Stony Brook, as their new head coach.

## Previous season

The Bobcats finished the 2017–18 season 14–17, 7–11 in MAC play to finish in a tie for fourth place in the East Division. They lost in the first round of the MAC tournament to Miami (OH).

## Offseason
### Departures

Departures :
| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Reason |
| Zach Butler | 0 | G | 6'3" | 193 | Freshman | Spartanburg, SC | Transferred to Florida SouthWestern State College |
| Antonio Bisutti | 10 | G | 6'2" | 192 | Senior | Dublin, OH | Graduated |

## Preseason

The preseason poll and league awards were announced by the league office on October 30, 2019. Ohio was picked to finish fourth and had no members of the preseason All-MAC team

### Preseason men's basketball poll

(First place votes in parentheses)

#### East Division

* Buffalo 210 (35)
* Miami 127
* Kent State 122
* Ohio 121
* Akron 97
* Bowling Green 58

#### West Division

* Eastern Michigan 183 (17)
* Ball State 175 (11)
* Toledo 156 (5)
* Western Michigan 81 (1)
* Northern Illinois 73
* Central Michigan 67 (1)

#### Tournament Champs

Buffalo (25), Eastern Michigan (3), Toledo (3), Central Michigan (1), Miami (1), Northern Illinois (1), Western Michigan (1)

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| November 3, 2018 3:30 pm | | Rio Grande | W 93–58 | | Convocation Center Athens, OH |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| November 7, 2018* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Wilberforce | W 97–61 | 1–0 | Convocation Center (4,032) Athens, OH |
| November 12, 2018* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Campbell Jamaica Classic campus game | W 81–73 | 2–0 | Convocation Center (4,312) Athens, OH |
| November 16, 2017* 4:30 pm | | vs. South Florida Jamaica Classic | L 46–73 | 2–1 | Montego Bay Convention Centre Montego Bay, Jamaica |
| November 18, 2018* 6:30 pm | | vs. Loyola Marymount Jamaica Classic | L 56–65 | 2–2 | Montego Bay Convention Centre Montego Bay, Jamaica |
| November 24, 2018* 2:00 pm | | Austin Peay Jamaica Classic campus game | W 85–82 $^{OT}$ | 3–2 | Convocation Center (3,474) Athens, OH |
| November 27, 2018* 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Iona | W 89–65 | 4–2 | Convocation Center (5,227) Athens, OH |
| December 1, 2018* 3:30 pm, ESPN+ | | Marshall | W 101-84 | 5–2 | Convocation Center (6,301) Athens, OH |
| December 5, 2018* 6:30 pm, FS1 | | at Xavier | L 61–82 | 5–3 | Cintas Center (10,405) Cincinnati, OH |
| December 8, 2018* 3:30 pm, ESPN3 | | Radford | W 78–69 | 6–3 | Convocation Center (5,974) Athens, OH |
| December 15, 2018* 1:00 pm | | at Detroit Mercy | W 63–61 | 7–3 | Calihan Hall (1,656) Detroit, MI |
| December 20, 2018* 7:00 pm, BTN | | at Purdue | L 67–95 | 7–4 | Mackey Arena (13,840) West Lafayette, IN |
| December 30, 2018* 2:00 pm | | Florida International | W 68-66 | 8-4 | Convocation Center (3,451) Athens, OH |
| MAC regular season ||||||
| January 5, 2019 2:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Northern Illinois | L 66-72 $^{OT}$ | 8-5 (0-1) | Convocation Center (5,121) Athens, OH |
| January 8, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Bowling Green | L 63-82 | 8-6 (0-2) | Stroh Center (1,442) Bowling Green, OH |
| January 12, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Ball State | W 70-52 | 9-6 (1-2) | Worthen Arena (4,076) Muncie, IN |
| January 15, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Kent State | L 52-66 | 9-7 (1-3) | Convocation Center (6,560) Athens, OH |
| January 18, 2019 7:00 pm, CBSSN | | at Toledo | L 52-75 | 9-8 (1-4) | Savage Arena (5,037) Toledo, OH |
| January 22, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Western Michigan | W 81-76 | 10-8 (2-4) | Convocation Center (6,029) Athens, OH |
| January 26, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Ball State | W 78-74 | 11-8 (3-4) | Convocation Center (6,556) Athens, OH |
| January 29, 2019 6:00 pm | | Northern Illinois | L 60-71 | 11-9 (3-5) | NIU Convocation Center (737) Athens, OH |
| February 2, 2019 3:30 pm, ESPN+ | | Akron | L 53-65 | 11-10 (3-6) | Convocation Center (7,887) Athens, OH |
| February 9, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Miami (OH) | L 59-79 | 11-11 (3-7) | Millett Hall (2,319) Oxford, OH |
| February 12, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Kent State | L 57-66 | 11-12 (3-8) | Convocation Center (5,522) Athens, OH |
| February 16, 2019 4:30 pm, ESPN+ | | at Central Michigan | L 80-87 | 11-13 (3-9) | McGuirk Arena (2,466) Mount Pleasant, MI |
| February 19, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | No. 25 Buffalo | L 67-114 | 11-14 (3-10) | Alumni Arena Amherst, NY |
| February 22, 2019 6:30 pm, CBSSN | | Bowling Green | W 92-87 $^{OT}$ | 12-14 (4-10) | Convocation Center (6,008) Athens, OH |
| February 26, 2019 4:30 pm, ESPN+ | | at Kent State | L 73-78 | 12-15 (4-11) | Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center (2,891) Kent, OH |
| March 2, 2019 2:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Akron | W 73-49 | 13-15 (5-11) | James A. Rhodes Arena (2,714) Akron, OH |
| March 5, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | No. 19 Buffalo | L 79-82 | 13-16 (5-12) | Convocation Center (5,834) Athens, OH |
| March 8, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Miami (OH) | W 66–57 | 14–16 (6–12) | Convocation Center Athens, OH |
| MAC Tournament ||||||
| March 11, 2019 9:00 pm, ESPN+ | (10) | at (7) Northern Illinois First round | L 61–80 | 14–17 | Convocation Center (1,070) DeKalb, IL |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time. ||||||

## Statistics
### Team statistics

    Final 2018–19 statistics
| Record | Ohio | OPP |
| Scoring | 2174 | 2288 |
| Scoring Average | 70.13 | 73.81 |
| Field goals – Att | 803–1838 | 812–1861 |
| 3-pt. Field goals – Att | 187–633 | 260–727 |
| Free throws – Att | 381–602 | 404–572 |
| Rebounds | 1152 | 1114 |
| Assists | 451 | 417 |
| Turnovers | 448 | 416 |
| Steals | 200 | 238 |
| Blocked Shots | 115 | 73 |
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 |
| Jason Carter | 31 | 31 | 962 | 31 | 510 | 16.5 | 180 | 374 | 0.481 | 23 | 67 | 0.343 | 127 | 177 | 0.718 | 65 | 143 | 208 | 6.7 | 61 | 77 | 55 | 20 | 21 |
| Teyvion Kirk | 31 | 30 | 945 | 30.5 | 436 | 14.1 | 174 | 415 | 0.419 | 10 | 47 | 0.213 | 78 | 148 | 0.527 | 47 | 125 | 172 | 5.5 | 76 | 84 | 137 | 41 | 5 |
| Doug Taylor | 31 | 31 | 779 | 25.1 | 267 | 8.6 | 105 | 169 | 0.621 | 1 | 4 | 0.25 | 56 | 98 | 0.571 | 82 | 128 | 210 | 6.8 | 15 | 98 | 46 | 25 | 56 |
| Ben Vander Plas | 31 | 2 | 719 | 23.2 | 267 | 8.6 | 94 | 231 | 0.407 | 50 | 162 | 0.309 | 29 | 41 | 0.707 | 40 | 122 | 162 | 5.2 | 48 | 55 | 33 | 28 | 15 |
| Gavin Block | 31 | 15 | 724 | 23.4 | 194 | 6.3 | 62 | 167 | 0.371 | 46 | 130 | 0.354 | 24 | 41 | 0.585 | 13 | 51 | 64 | 2.1 | 68 | 50 | 40 | 25 | 5 |
| Jason Preston | 30 | 21 | 886 | 29.5 | 180 | 6 | 72 | 166 | 0.434 | 10 | 48 | 0.208 | 26 | 34 | 0.765 | 21 | 86 | 107 | 3.6 | 103 | 31 | 37 | 25 | 3 |
| Antonio Cowart Jr | 31 | 24 | 812 | 26.2 | 173 | 5.6 | 64 | 173 | 0.37 | 30 | 104 | 0.288 | 15 | 22 | 0.682 | 20 | 84 | 104 | 3.4 | 51 | 62 | 60 | 25 | 4 |
| Connor Murrell | 25 | 0 | 234 | 9.4 | 78 | 3.1 | 29 | 80 | 0.363 | 8 | 33 | 0.242 | 12 | 21 | 0.571 | 6 | 19 | 25 | 1 | 13 | 22 | 16 | 6 | 2 |
| James Gollon | 6 | 0 | 72 | 12 | 35 | 5.8 | 10 | 20 | 0.5 | 6 | 13 | 0.462 | 9 | 11 | 0.818 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 1 |
| Mason McMurray | 9 | 0 | 53 | 5.9 | 13 | 1.4 | 5 | 14 | 0.357 | 1 | 9 | 0.111 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 1 | 5 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| Torey James | 14 | 0 | 67 | 4.8 | 11 | 0.8 | 4 | 22 | 0.182 | 2 | 15 | 0.133 | 1 | 3 | 0.333 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 0.6 | 5 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| Jarrell Reeves | 6 | 0 | 9 | 1.5 | 8 | 1.3 | 4 | 5 | 0.8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 0.8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| John Tenerowicz | 4 | 0 | 6 | 1.5 | 2 | 0.5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chris McGraw | 4 | 0 | 6 | 1.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 31 | - | 6275 | - | 2174 | 70.1 | 803 | 1838 | 0.437 | 187 | 633 | 0.295 | 381 | 602 | 0.633 | 332 | 820 | 1152 | 37.2 | 451 | 504 | 448 | 200 | 115 |
| Opponents | 31 | - | 6275 | - | 2288 | 73.8 | 812 | 1861 | 0.436 | 260 | 727 | 0.358 | 404 | 572 | 0.706 | 300 | 814 | 1114 | 35.9 | 417 | 558 | 416 | 238 | 73 |
Source

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

Postseason All-MAC teams :
| Team | Player | Position | Year |
| All-MAC Third Team | Jason Carter | F | RS-So. |
| All-MAC Freshman Team | Ben Vander Plas | F | RS-Fr. |
| All-MAC Freshman Team | Jason Preston | G | Fr. |
Source