Probably not any of us know a lot about Winthrop, but most know that Winthrop traditionally is a good mid-major team, as are we. This could be a nice game to have at home next year the year after, whenever it is returned. They have a young team, too, just two seniors, and neither has been a huge factor this year.
Most ratings have Ohio a few spots higher than Winthrop, but of course, home-court could give Winthrop a slight edge. The Eagles have lost only twice at home.
Statistically, Winthrop is a pretty good defensive team and very poor offensive team, so strength will go up against strength and weakness against weakness. The Eagles are very, very poor shooting team. We have a tendency to give up 3-pointers to teams that don't usually shoot them well, but Winthrop might be the worst we've faced. They've made the 13th-fewest in the country and are shooting 30.5 percent on them (and worse in conference play). They shoot 41.2 percent overall and 64.0 percent at the foul line. They don't draw a lot of fouls or grab a lot of offensive rebounds, but they do take care of the ball, at least.
The Eagles don't really have a go-to scorer, but have four guys averaging double-digits: guard (6-4) Robbie Dreher, guard (6-1) Reggie Middleton, forward (6-7) Charles Corbin and guard (6-2) Andre Jones all average about 10.5-13.5. Forward George Valentine (6-8) rounds out the starting lineup.
Corbin (8.5 rpg) and Valentine (7.0 rpg) have been pretty good rebounders. Middleton leads the team in assists with just 80 against 60 turnovers. None of them shoot better than 35 percent on 3-pointers.The forwards are pretty poor free throw shooters, while the guards are just average.
Matt Morgan, a 6-9 center, is key off the bench, but he seems to be more of a finesse big guy rather than a real post player. Gideon Gamble (6-7 G), Justin Burton (5-10 PG) and Joab Jerome (6-5 F) seem to round out the rotation. Gamble is the best shooter off the bench.
Defensively, the Eagles are good at forcing turnovers and pretty good at forcing opponents to shoot lower percentages. In particular, teams have shot poorly inside the arc against them. They have tended to foul quite a bit, though.
Winthrop's regular season ends next week with two winnable home games, so I'm sure they are hoping to get on a hot streak entering the Big South tournament. The Big South ranks pretty poorly as a conference this year, several behind the MAC even as bad as it's been this year. The league has one really good team, Coastal Carolina, at 25-3 with a 15-1 league mark. Liberty has a grip on second place, while Winthrop is in contention for as high as third place.
If we can win at Buffalo, then we can defintiely win this one. But of course, consistency has been a problem, although the Bobcats have been a lot more consistent lately. I hope it carries on. To me, this is a very winnable game, but it's by no means a gimme. We can't rely on shooting 50 percent against a good defensive team like this.