The Ohio Bobcats (20-10, 10-7) travel to Oxford, Ohio on Saturday in hope of defeating the Miami Redhawks (12-16, 8-9) and improving their seed in the upcoming MAC Tournament.

Entering the weekend, Ohio is tied with Eastern Michigan for the No. 5 seed, but the ‘Cats hold the tiebreak advantage over EMU by winning the teams head-to-head matchup 58-56 on January 25. With a Bobcat win and an Akron loss on Friday evening, the two teams would be tied for the No. 4 seed. Due to the fact that Ohio and Akron split their season series 1-1, no tiebreaker could be used. In this situation, a coin flip would determine which team would receive the No. 4 seed.

The top four seeds in the MAC Tournament receive first round byes and advance directly to play in Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena. Seeds No. 5 – No. 8 get to host a first round tournament game at their home venue.

Travis Wilkins scored a career-high 23 points in the Bobcats’ Feb. 8 comeback win vs. Miami. (photo: ohiobobcats.com

Last time the two rivals met, Ohio defeated Miami 82-75 with a dominant second half. After trailing by 15 points at halftime, the Green & White outscored the Redhawks 50-28 in the second half to emerge victorious. Seniors Nick Kellogg and Travis Wilkins posted career-highs of 27 and 23 points each to lead the comeback. Maurice N’dour added 14 points and eight rebounds to the Bobcats’ attack. Miami gave Ohio all they could handle with 19 points each by Will Felder and Bill Edwards, but the Bobcats shot nearly 60 percent from the field in the second half to mount the comeback.

Ohio defeated Bowling Green 72-61 on Tuesday to avoid losing three straight games. Nick Kellogg led all scorers with 25 points on 8 of 13 shooting. Bean Willis added 16 points to make up for the absence of Ohio’s second leading scorer and leading rebounder Maurice N’dour.

Miami has won three of its last four games, including a 73-61 victory over Kent State on Tuesday.

Saturday’s game tips off at noon at Miami’s Millet Hall. The game will be broadcasted on Time Warner Sports Channel and ESPN3 and radio coverage will be available on the Ohio IMG Sports Radio Network.