They won their only scrimmage at home against UT-Martin 76-59.

They started:
PG: #0 - Chandler Jackson - 6'5 Sr (Florida St transfer)
Last season at FSU: 27 starts, 6.3 pts/2.1 reb/2.0 ast

SG: #1 - Matt Hayman - 6'5 Gr (Stephen F Austin transfer)
Last season at SFA: 30 starts, 14.0 pts/3.9 reb/2.6 ast

SF: #5 - Christian Harmon - 6'6 Jr (Gulf Coast College transfer)
Last season at GCSC: 33 starts, 16.9 pts/4.8 reb

PF: #12 - Jalen Hampton - 6'7 Sr (Missouri St transfer)
Last season at MoSt: 19 starts, 7.6 pts/6.0 reb/0.6 ast

C: #10 - Chudi Dioramma - 6'10 So (Sacramento St transfer)
Last season at SacSt: 0 starts, 5.7 pts/3.7 reb/0.4 ast


Excerpts on the scrimmage from their student newspaper:

Defensively, the Red Wolves were able to get a lot of stops collectively and had a clear advantage on the glass. In the second half, the Red Wolves were able to score several fast-break points and knocked down more 3-pointers.

Pannone said. “I thought that the defensive effort was really high. We spoke at halftime about winning the war on the offensive boards. That’s a big part of our identity. It’s something that we’ve been really good at within practice."

Torvik predicts we win 80-76, but insert all the statistical caveats of no current season data and only projections.

He also thinks our top 5 in minutes are going to be
1) Pavs - 32.4 mpg
2) Simmons - 30.4
3) Hadaway - 28.0
4) Conners - 26.8
5) Breath - 26.0

With Elliott #6 at 21.2 mpg. And he projects Evans to be #8 in minutes (11.6) and average 4.2 pts/2.2 reb. Soooo....take all that with a huge grain of salt until we get real data and rotations.

Really tough matchup to start, but I think we squeak this one out being at home + take advantage of a new roster. I suspect by the second go around of the MAC/SBC Challenge, Arkansas State will be a much more well-oiled machine. A lot of talent from this past portal class.

They're gonna EAT on the boards. Good lord.

Man... LOL... don't do my boy like that. Jack is 6'2".

Were you a psych major at OU as that is an apt diagnosis by a well educated former student.....

Bring on the MAC-SBC Challenge!!!!!

Arkansas State doesn't return a single player from last year's NIT team and lost their head coach, too.

But they were still picked to finish second in the conference. Weird.

Whole bunch of transfers, including Chandler Jackson from Florida State.

Hayman from Stephen F Austin averaged 14/4/2 played pretty well in their scrimmage.

Harmon was PoY in JUCO. Shot 47% from 3.

Chammaa from San Diego had 14 points in 22 mins in their scrimmage.

Diorama their new center had 7 boards in 18 mins.

They went portaling and found some lower level studs to build a solid roster.

And their coach was an assistant under Oates at Alabama after being a head coach in the G Leaguge and an assistant for the New Orleans Pelicans.

I'm actually going to go out on a limb and say this is a must-win for Boals. He's not going to get fired with a loss nor should he, but the non-conference performances against peer schools in his tenure at Ohio is not that good. This program really needs to take a step forward outside of conference play.

Quick question: taking out the Virginia win, what is Boals' best non-conference win as Ohio head coach?

2024-25 Robert Morris? - they went to the NCAA Tournament
2022-23 YSU? - they went to the NIT
2021-22 Belmont? - they went to the NIT
2020-21 Cleveland State? - this was the big one were we scored 101 points, but that CSU team went to the NCAA Tournament

I think we need to show improvement in rebounding and making 3's if we are to be successful this year.





GO BOBCATS

Something makes me think Hadaway is the key to this game. Move than Pavs even.

That and CAN NOT brick free throws.