# 1996–97 Ohio Bobcats men's basketball team

The 1996–97 Ohio Bobcats men's basketball team represented Ohio University in the college basketball season of 1996–97. The team was coached by Larry Hunter and played their home games at the Convocation Center. They finished the season 17–10 and finished third in the MAC regular season with a conference record of 12–6.

## Schedule

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| 11/27/1996* | | Wilmington | W 62–48 | 1–0 | Convocation Center Athens, Ohio |
| 11/30/1996* | | at West Virginia | L 68–83 | 1–1 | |
| 12/7/1996* | | at Illinois State | L 69–81 | 1–2 | Redbird Arena (8,153) Normal, Illinois |
| 12/12/1996* | | at Cal State Northridge | W 80–73 | 2–2 | |
| 12/14/1996* | | at No. 23 UCLA | L 61–72 | 2–3 | Pauley Pavilion (8,053) Los Angeles, California |
| 12/18/1996* | | Wright State | W 74–59 | 3–3 | Convocation Center Athens, Ohio |
| 12/21/1996* | | Radford | W 83–65 | 4–3 | Convocation Center Athens, Ohio |
| 12/28/1996* | | Duquesne | W 85–67 | 5–3 | Convocation Center Athens, Ohio |
| MAC regular season ||||||
| 1/4/1997 | | Western Michigan | L 63–64 | 5–4 (0–1) | Convocation Center Athens, Ohio |
| 1/9/1997 | | at Ball State | L 76–86 | 5–5 (0–2) | Worthen Arena Muncie, Indiana |
| 1/11/1997 | | at Akron | W 67–64 | 6–5 (1–2) | |
| 1/13/1997 | | at Kent State | W 72–60 | 7–5 (2–2) | Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center Kent, Ohio |
| 1/18/1997 | | at Miami (OH) | L 63–78 | 7–6 (2–3) | Millett Hall Oxford, Ohio |
| 1/22/1997 | | Toledo | W 82–78 | 8–6 (3–3) | Convocation Center Athens, Ohio |
| 1/25/1997 | | Central Michigan | W 83–68 | 9-6 (4–3) | Convocation Center Athens, Ohio |
| 1/29/1997 | | at Bowling Green | L 59–72 | 9-7 (4–4) | Anderson Arena Bowling Green, Ohio |
| 2/1/1997 | | Ball State | W 79–58 | 10–7 (5–4) | Convocation Center Athens, Ohio |
| 2/3/1997 | | Eastern Michigan | W 71–70 | 11–7 (6–4) | Convocation Center Athens, Ohio |
| 2/5/1997 | | at Akron | W 71–67 | 12–7 (7–4) | |
| 2/8/1997 | | Kent State | W 79–59 | 13–7 (8–4) | Convocation Center Athens, Ohio |
| 2/12/1997 | | at Eastern Michigan | W 71–62 | 14–7 (9–4) | Bowen Field House Ypsilanti, Michigan |
| 2/15/1997 | | Miami (OH) | W 67–65 | 15–7 (10–4) | Convocation Center Athens, Ohio |
| 2/17/1997 | | at Toledo | L 69–80 | 15–8 (10–5) | John F. Savage Hall Toledo, Ohio |
| 2/22/1997 | | at Central Michigan | W 100–82 | 16–8 (11–5) | Rose Arena Mount Pleasant, Michigan |
| 2/26/1997 | | Bowling Green | W 89–87 $^{OT}$ | 17–8 (12–5) | Convocation Center Athens, Ohio |
| 3/1/1997 | | at Western Michigan | L 73–82 | 17–9 (12–6) | University Arena Kalamazoo, Michigan |
| MAC Tournament ||||||
| 3/4/1997 | (3) | vs. (6) Western Michigan Quarterfinals | L 68–74 | 17–10 (12–7) | SeaGate Convention Centre Toledo, Ohio |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time. ||||||
Source:

## Statistics
### Team statistics

    Final 1996–97 statistics
| Record | Ohio | OPP |
| Scoring | 1984 | 1904 |
| Scoring Average | 73.48 | 70.52 |
| Field goals – Att | 742–1550 | 666–1481 |
| 3-pt. Field goals – Att | 117–307 | 145–412 |
| Free throws – Att | 383–588 | 427–597 |
| Rebounds | 1015 | 836 |
| Assists | 364 | 368 |
| Turnovers | 440 | 403 |
| Steals | 204 | 204 |
| Blocked Shots | 73 | 68 |
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 |
| Geno Ford | 27 | 27 | 1015 | 37.6 | 505 | 18.7 | 167 | 404 | 0.413 | 59 | 151 | 0.391 | 112 | 131 | 0.855 | 0 | 0 | 98 | 3.6 | 78 | 76 | 68 | 46 | 4 |
| Ed Sears | 27 | 27 | 706 | 26.1 | 403 | 14.9 | 156 | 241 | 0.647 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 91 | 133 | 0.684 | 0 | 0 | 176 | 6.5 | 24 | 88 | 0 | 12 | 16 |
| Curtis Simmons | 24 | 10 | 673 | 28 | 388 | 16.2 | 158 | 268 | 0.59 | 1 | 4 | 0.25 | 71 | 122 | 0.582 | 0 | 0 | 139 | 5.8 | 56 | 63 | 0 | 40 | 25 |
| Damion Washington | 27 | 7 | 573 | 21.2 | 156 | 5.8 | 57 | 135 | 0.422 | 19 | 57 | 0.333 | 23 | 35 | 0.657 | 0 | 0 | 94 | 3.5 | 33 | 46 | 45 | 21 | 1 |
| Diante Flenorl | 25 | 18 | 534 | 21.4 | 143 | 5.7 | 60 | 148 | 0.405 | 1 | 4 | 0.25 | 22 | 36 | 0.611 | 0 | 0 | 98 | 3.9 | 32 | 51 | 30 | 15 | 12 |
| Basra Fakhir | 27 | 19 | 555 | 20.6 | 123 | 4.6 | 55 | 114 | 0.482 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 27 | 0.481 | 0 | 0 | 146 | 5.4 | 28 | 58 | 31 | 8 | 3 |
| Jason Grunkemeyer | 26 | 6 | 428 | 16.5 | 115 | 4.4 | 36 | 85 | 0.424 | 27 | 57 | 0.474 | 16 | 25 | 0.64 | 0 | 0 | 41 | 1.6 | 14 | 44 | 24 | 9 | 2 |
| Corey Reed | 26 | 18 | 621 | 23.9 | 97 | 3.7 | 33 | 86 | 0.384 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 31 | 72 | 0.431 | 0 | 0 | 70 | 2.7 | 84 | 52 | 60 | 43 | 9 |
| Jim Peterson | 19 | 0 | 103 | 5.4 | 36 | 1.9 | 12 | 42 | 0.286 | 10 | 33 | 0.303 | 2 | 4 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0.5 | 1 | 19 | 8 | 2 | 0 |
| Paul Morris | 9 | 3 | 183 | 20.3 | 18 | 2 | 8 | 20 | 0.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0.667 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 3.8 | 14 | 23 | 19 | 8 | 1 |
| Jason Bundy | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Matt Jager | 3 | 0 | 21 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Andy Kanzig | 2 | 0 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 27 | - | 0 | - | 1984 | 73.5 | 742 | 1550 | 0.479 | 117 | 307 | 0.381 | 383 | 588 | 0.651 | 390 | 625 | 1015 | 37.6 | 364 | 524 | 440 | 204 | 73 |
| Opponents | 27 | - | - | - | 1904 | 70.5 | 666 | 1481 | 0.450 | 145 | 412 | 0.352 | 427 | 597 | 0.715 | 294 | 542 | 836 | 31.0 | 368 | 545 | 403 | 204 | 68 |
Source