2019–20 Ohio Bobcats men's basketball team

2019–20 Ohio Bobcats men's basketball
2019–20 Ohio Bobcats men's basketball
Conference	Mid-American Conference
	East Division
Record	17–15 (8–10 MAC)
Head coach	Jeff Boals (1st season);
Assistant coaches	Steve Snell; Lamar Thornton; Kyle Barlow;
Home arena	Convocation Center
	Seasons ← 2018–19 2020–21 →

The 2019–20 Ohio University Bobcats men's basketball team represents Ohio University for the 2019–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Bobcats are led by first-year head coach Jeff Boals, who was a 1995 graduate of Ohio University.^[1] The team will play their home games at the Convocation Center in Athens, Ohio as a member of the East Division of the Mid-American Conference.

2019–20 Mid-American Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
East
Akron	14	–	4	.778	24	–	7	.774
Bowling Green	12	–	6	.667	21	–	10	.677
Buffalo	11	–	7	.611	20	–	12	.625
Kent State	9	–	9	.500	20	–	12	.625
Ohio	8	–	10	.444	17	–	15	.531
Miami (OH)	5	–	13	.278	13	–	19	.406
West
Ball State	11	–	7	.611	18	–	13	.581
Northern Illinois	11	–	7	.611	18	–	13	.581
Toledo	8	–	10	.444	17	–	15	.531
Central Michigan	7	–	11	.389	14	–	18	.438
Western Michigan	6	–	12	.333	13	–	19	.406
Eastern Michigan	6	–	12	.333	16	–	16	.500
Note: The 2020 MAC tournament was canceled prior to the quarterfinals due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Previous 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. 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.^[2]

On March 13, 2019, head coach Saul Phillips was fired. He finished his five-year tenure at Ohio with an 81–77 overall record.^[3] Five days later, the school named Ohio alum Jeff Boals, head coach at Stony Brook, as their new head coach.^[4]

Offseason

Departures


Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Reason
Jason Carter	1	F	6'8"	220	Junior	Johnstown, OH	Transferred to Xavier^[5]
James Gollon	3	G	6'5"	200	Senior	Stevens Point, WI	Medical^[6]
Teyvion Kirk	4	G	6'4"	185	Junior	Joliet, IL	Transferred to Colorado State^[7]
Torey James	11	G	6'5"	190	Soph.	Hickory, NC	Transferred to Cape Fear CC^[8]
Chris McGraw	14	G	5'11"	175	Soph.	Columbus, OH	Transferred
Jarrell Reeves	21	F	6'5"	200	Junior	Murfreesboro, TN	Left Team
Gavin Block	22	G/F	6'7"	212	Senior	Lincoln, IL	Graduated
Antonio Cowart	23	G	6'2"	175	Senior	McComb, MS	Transferred to Mississippi College^[9]
Doug Taylor	45	F	6'9"	248	Senior	Columbus, OH	Graduated

Roster

2019–20 Ohio Bobcats men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G	0	Jason Preston	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	187 lb (85 kg)	So	Believe Sports Academy	Orlando, FL
G	1	Michael Brown, Jr.	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	156 lb (71 kg)	Fr	Northstar Christian	Rochester, NY
F	2	Nate Springs	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	RS Fr	United Faith Christian	Charlotte, NC
F	3	Ben Roderick	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	Fr	Olentangy Liberty	Powell, OH
F	5	Ben Vander Plas	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	232 lb (105 kg)	RS So	Ripon	Ripon, WI
G	10	Connor Murrell	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	RS Jr	Sioux City East	Sioux City, IA
F	11	Sylvester Ogbonda	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	237 lb (108 kg)	Sr	National Christian	Port Harcourt, Nigeria
G	12	John Tenerowicz	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	So	St. Ignatius	Cleveland, OH
G	15	Lunden McDay	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Fr	St. Vincent–St. Mary	Akron, OH
C	22	Nolan Foster	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	222 lb (101 kg)	Fr	Mattawan	Mattawan, MI
G	23	Miles Brown	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Fr	Northstar Christian	Rochester, NY
F	24	Mason McMurray	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	RS Fr	Stow-Munroe Falls	Stow, OH
G	35	Jordan Dartis	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	RS Sr	Newark	Newark, OH
F	44	Mavin Price	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	228 lb (103 kg)	Fr	Patterson	Baltimore, MD

Head coach

Jeff Boals (Ohio)

Assistant coach(es)

Lamar Thornton
Steve Snell
Kyle Barlow (Concordia)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Exhibition
November 2, 2019 1:00 pm		Capital	W 73–49		Convocation Center (6,104) Athens, OH
Non-conference regular season
November 5, 2019* 7:30 pm, ESPN+		at St. Bonaventure	W 65–53	1–0	Reilly Center (4,305) St. Bonaventure, NY
November 9, 2019* 1:00 pm		Heidelberg	W 80–50	2–0	Convocation Center (4,043) Athens, OH
November 13, 2019* 7:00 pm		at Iona	W 81–72	3–0	Hynes Athletic Center (2,013) New Rochelle, NY
November 16, 2019* 12:00 pm, FS2		at No. 10 Villanova Myrtle Beach Invitational campus game	L 54–78	3–1	Wells Fargo Center (13,678) Philadelphia, PA
November 21, 2019* 4:30 pm, ESPN2		vs. No. 24 Baylor Myrtle Beach Invitational quarterfinal	L 53–76	3–2	HTC Center (2,269) Conway, SC
November 22, 2019* 7:30 pm, ESPNews		vs. Utah Myrtle Beach Invitational consolation 2nd round	L 66–80	3–3	HTC Center (1,921) Conway, SC
November 24, 2019* 7:30 pm, ESPNews		vs. Middle Tennessee Myrtle Beach Invitational 7th place game	W 75–63	4–3	HTC Center (1,977) Conway, SC
November 30, 2019* 1:00 pm		Detroit Mercy	W 91–81	5–3	Convocation Center (3,030) Athens, OH
December 4, 2019* 7:00 pm		Rio Grande	W 90–51	6–3	Convocation Center (3,333) Athens, OH
December 8, 2019* 2:00 pm		Tennessee Tech	W 81–54	7–3	Convocation Center (3,402) Athens, OH
December 17, 2019* 9:00 pm, ESPN2		Purdue	L 51–69	7–4	Convocation Center (5,663) Athens, OH
December 21, 2019* 1:00 pm		Morehead State	W 82–76	8–4	Convocation Center (3,021) Athens, OH
December 29, 2019* 2:00 pm		Campbell	L 55–63	8–5	Convocation Center (3,305) Athens, OH
MAC regular season
January 4, 2020 4:00 pm, ESPN3		at Western Michigan	L 65–77	8–6 (0–1)	University Arena (2,683) Kalamazoo, MI
January 7, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Eastern Michigan	W 74–68	9–6 (1–1)	Convocation Center (3,109) Athens, OH
January 11, 2020 1:00 pm, ESPN+		Bowling Green	L 74–83	9–7 (1–2)	Convocation Center (4,811) Athens, OH
January 14, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+		at Buffalo	L 73–76	9–8 (1–3)	Alumni Arena (2,404) Amherst, NY
January 18, 2020 2:00 pm, ESPN3		at Eastern Michigan	W 60–58	10–8 (2–3)	EMU Convocation Center (1,322) Ypsilanti, MI
January 21, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN3		Toledo	L 74–83	10–9 (2–4)	Convocation Center Athens, OH
January 25, 2020 3:30 pm, ESPN3		Akron	L 86–88	10–10 (2–5)	Convocation Center (5,012) Athens, OH
January 28, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+		at Northern Illinois	L 59–61	10–11 (2–6)	NIU Convocation Center (783) DeKalb, IL
February 1, 2020 1:00 pm, ESPN3		at Ball State	L 54–65	10–12 (2–7)	Worthen Arena (5,238) Muncie, IN
February 8, 2020 3:30 pm, ESPN3		Miami (OH)	W 77–46	11–12 (3–7)	Convocation Center (6,534) Athens, OH
February 11, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Western Michigan	W 73–61	12–12 (4–7)	Convocation Center (4,372) Athens, OH
February 15, 2020 1:00 pm, ESPN3		at Kent State	L 72–87	12–13 (4–8)	Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center (5,218) Kent, OH
February 18, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN3		Central Michigan	W 77–69	13–13 (5–8)	Convocation Center (4,547) Athens, OH
February 22, 2020 4:30 pm, ESPN+		at Bowling Green	L 61–62	13–14 (5–9)	Stroh Center (3,795) Bowling Green, OH
February 25, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Buffalo	W 80–69	14–14 (6–9)	Convocation Center (4,837) Athens, OH
February 28, 2020 3:30 pm, ESPN+		Kent State	W 76-69	15–14 (7–9)	Convocation Center (5,490) Athens, OH
March 3, 2020 7:30 pm, CBSSN		at Akron	L 67–74	15–15 (7–10)	James A. Rhodes Arena (3,825) Akron, OH
March 6, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN3		at Miami (OH)	W 67–65	16–15 (8–10)	Millett Hall (2,289) Oxford, OH
MAC Tournament
March 9, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+	(8)	(9) Central Michigan First round	W 85–65	17–15	Convocation Center (3,312) Athens, OH
March 12, 2020 12:00 pm, ESPN+	(8)	vs. (1) Akron Quarterfinals	MAC Tournament cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic		Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse Cleveland, OH
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time.

All games from ohiobobcats.com.^[10]

References

^ "Men's Basketball". Ohio University. Retrieved 2019-10-16.
^ "2018-19 Ohio Men's Basketball Schedule". Ohio University. Retrieved 2019-10-16.
^ Harrison, Alexander. "OU cans its highest-paid employee". The Athens NEWS. Retrieved 2019-10-16.
^ Popovich, Mike. "Jeff Boals lands 'dream job' at Ohio University". The Repository. Retrieved 2019-10-16.
^ Baum, Adam. "Xavier University basketball picks up Ohio University transfer Jason Carter". Cincinnati.com. Retrieved 2019-10-16.
^ Journalist, Jason Arkley Messenger Staff. "Despite all the pain, these Bobcats found each other". The Athens Messenger. Retrieved 2019-10-16.
^ "Highly-ranked guard says he'll transfer from Ohio to Colorado State basketball team". Coloradoan. Retrieved 2019-10-16.
^ "Torey James - Cape Fear CC". goseadevils.com. Retrieved 2019-10-16.
^ "Antonio Cowart Jr. - 2019-20 - Men's Basketball". Mississippi College Athletics. Retrieved 2019-10-16.
^ "2019-20 Ohio Men's Basketball Schedule". Ohio University. Retrieved 2019-10-16.

[1] "Men's Basketball". Ohio University. Retrieved 2019-10-16.

[2] "2018-19 Ohio Men's Basketball Schedule". Ohio University. Retrieved 2019-10-16.

[3] Harrison, Alexander. "OU cans its highest-paid employee". The Athens NEWS. Retrieved 2019-10-16.

[4] Popovich, Mike. "Jeff Boals lands 'dream job' at Ohio University". The Repository. Retrieved 2019-10-16.

[5] Baum, Adam. "Xavier University basketball picks up Ohio University transfer Jason Carter". Cincinnati.com. Retrieved 2019-10-16.

[6] Journalist, Jason Arkley Messenger Staff. "Despite all the pain, these Bobcats found each other". The Athens Messenger. Retrieved 2019-10-16.

[7] "Highly-ranked guard says he'll transfer from Ohio to Colorado State basketball team". Coloradoan. Retrieved 2019-10-16.

[8] "Torey James - Cape Fear CC". goseadevils.com. Retrieved 2019-10-16.

[9] "Antonio Cowart Jr. - 2019-20 - Men's Basketball". Mississippi College Athletics. Retrieved 2019-10-16.

[10] "2019-20 Ohio Men's Basketball Schedule". Ohio University. Retrieved 2019-10-16.

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v t e Ohio Bobcats men's basketball
Venues	Ewing Hall (1907–1908) Ohio Gymnasium (1908–1923) Men's Gymnasium (1924–1960) Grover Center (1960–1968) Convocation Center (1968–present)
Culture & lore	Rufus the Bobcat
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25

Previous season

Offseason

Departures

Roster

Schedule and results

See also

References