KSU men’s basketball continues offensive struggles, loses 59-53 to Ohio
In the first game of what bodes to be a tough Mid-American Conference season, the Kent State Flashes lost a hard-fought home game 53-59 Wednesday night against the Ohio Bobcats.
It was that kind of contest from which basketball clichés are borne: a classic conference game in which every possession counted, every point was earned, and defense reigned supreme, even for two of the three highest-scoring teams in the conference.
The Flashes were sporting their new white jerseys for the first time all season, but their play in the first half was anything but clean. They turned the ball over six times in the first period and continued their recent poor offensive form. Kent State shot the ball a paltry 26.7 percent from the field for the half, plagued by an endless array of missed shots early in possessions.
Kent State president-elect Beverly Warren was introduced to the crowd during the first half of Wednesday night’s men’s basketball game. She posed on the court along with retiring Kent State President Lester Lefton.
Warren, the provost at Virginia Commonwealth University, is no stranger to the world of athletics, as she earned a doctorate in exercise physiology from Auburn University and served as the head of VCU’s School of Education’s Division of Health, Physical Education and Recreation. Additionally, Warren is a fellow at the American College of Sports Medicine.
Warren was named the next president during a Board of Trustees meeting Wednesday morning, and her appearance at the basketball game followed a meet-and-greet with the Kent State community that afternoon in the Schwebel Room in the Student Center.
Tough defense and an Ohio shooting performance that barely outshone Kent’s did much to keep the Flashes in the game. Coach Rob Senderoff could be heard across the auditorium loudly encouraging junior guard Derrick Jackson to “watch the re-screen” as he strained to keep up with Ohio’s senior guard Nick Kellogg.
The team as a whole did well to keep Kellogg in check for most of the first half, but it seemed like he made the jumper every time he found open space. Kellogg would end up scoring 19 points, which led both teams.
The Kent defense did manage to keep Ohio’s leading scorer, junior forward Maurice Ndour, off the boards for most of the night, holding him to 9 points and 1 rebound.
The Flashes crawled their way into a lead by the half-way point of the second half. But the poor shooting persisted, and after a small run by the Bobcats put them up by two possessions, the Flashes could never recover, meeting defeat for the third consecutive game. A number of missed layups only added to the frustration, and by the end of the game, Senderoff was visibly upset with the officiating.
The 53 points on 28.3 percent was the Flashes’ worst offensive output of the season. After a hot start in which the Flashes scored more than 70 points in each of their first seven games, the offense has cooled off, and this was the second game in a row the team shot less than 40 percent from the field.
Next for the Flashes is a home game against Ball State on Saturday. Tip-off is at 7 p.m.
Contact Tyler Kieslich at [email protected].