Bowling Green State University Athletics
BGSU Men's Basketball On The Road At Oakland University
December 27, 1999 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 6, 1999
THIS WEEK:
Following a game tomorrow (Dec. 7) at Oakland University, the Bowling Green State University men's basketball team continues its 1999-2000 schedule with a game Saturday which will be their third of four consecutive road contests. BG will make the trip to Cedar Falls, Iowa to battle Northern Iowa in a 7 p.m. contest.
BG will conclude its road swing with a Dec. 18 game at West Virginia.
THE RECORDS: The Falcons have won all five of their games this season and 12 of their last 14 dating back to last season...BG is 1-0 on the road this season...Northern Iowa will take a 6-0 record into a game tomorrow (Dec. 7) at home against Iowa...UNI is 2-0 at home this season after going 6-6 last season.
SERIES NOTES: Bowling Green and Northern Iowa played for the first time last season with the Falcons taking a 70-68 decision at Anderson Arena on a basket by Graham Bunn as time expired.
LAST WEEK: The Falcons won both games posting an 80-60 win over Illinois State at home and a 91-86 victory over Cleveland State at Gund Arena in Cleveland in the second game of the Rock-N-Roll Shootout...the Falcons led for all but 17 seconds of the Illinois State game with the Falcons taking the lead for good at the 17:12 mark of the first half...after ISU closed to within 46-41 with 14:33 left in the game, BG scored the next nine points to increase their advantage to 55-41 with 12:13 left...except for one brief period, BG led by double digits the rest of the way with the lead reaching as much as 21 points...Anthony Stacey led the Falcons with 23 points and eight rebounds while Trent Jackson chipped in with 16 points...BG shot 55.8% from the field for the game, 69.2% in the second half...in the win over Cleveland State, the Falcons led from start to finish, but the Vikings made it interesting in the second half...BG broke out to leads of 9-2 and 21-5 in the early going....BG led by 12 points at halftime and by as many as 18 points midway through the second half...but, CSU closed to within eight points with 4:23 left and were just five down with 47 seconds left when BG secured the win hitting their next three free throws...BG converted 11-of-13 from the charity stripe down the stretch...Keith McLeod led the team with 23 points, 13 of those in the opening run of the game by BG, while Stacey and Jackson both added 17 points...there were 60 fouls and 77 free throws shot in the game as five players fouled out.
STACEY EYEING RECORDS: Senior forward Anthony Stacey (Elyria, Ohio/Grafton Midview) comes into his final season with a chance to put his name among the elite who have played at Bowling Green. Stacey, a first-team All-MAC selection last season, needs just 296 points (12.9 average in the 23 remaining regular season games) to become the career scoring leader and just 20 steals to take over the top spot in that category. The least amount of points he has scored in any of his three previous full seasons was 433 and the smallest number of steals he has had in a season was 36. He is now seventh on the BG career scoring list with 1,538 points while his 182 steals are third on that list. He also has become one of only 14 players who have collected 600 or more rebounds with 618 in his career, 13th on the all-time BG list. Stacey also ranks 11th in school history having shot 51.2% from the field. He could finish his career as high as fifth on the BG career rebounding list. A second-team all-district pick of the coaches last season, he averaged 18.5 points and 5.6 rebounds with 13 efforts of 20 or more points. Stacey was a first-team preseason All-MAC selection and has been tabbed by several preseason magazines as the Player of the Year in the conference. Through five games this season, he is averaging 17.4 points, leads the team, 6.2 rebounds, second on the team, 2.8 assists, third on the team, 1.8 steals, second on the squad, while shooting 57.8% from the floor, 58.3% from three-point range, and 80.0% from the charity stripe. He had 23 points, eight rebounds, and two assists last week in the win over Illinois State and 17 points, seven rebounds, four assists, and two steals in the win over Cleveland State. He is shooting 62.1% (18-of-29) from the floor in the last three games.
FAST START: The 5-0 start by the Falcons is the best since the 1974-75 squad also started the season with five wins. The last team to win at least six games to start a season was the 1947-48 team of Hall-of-Famer Harold Anderson. That team opened the season with seven consecutive wins. The five wins in a row are the most since the 1991-92 team won six in a row. The last team to win seven games in a row was the 1989-90 team.
BOWLING GREEN FAST FACTS: Junior Trent Jackson (Rochester, N.Y./Franklin H.S./Ohio State) in the early going this season is one of the most improved players in the country..he is fourth on the team in scoring, 12.0 points, while shooting 64.9% from the floor...one of the top defensive players on the team, Jackson has started all five games this season averaging 22.2 minutes...last season he averaged just over 10 minutes per game seeing action in 18 games making one start...he scored a total of 44 points (2.4 avg.) and shot just 32.6% from the floor...he played a total of only 11 minutes in the last four games of the season last year...an explosive leaper with excellent quickness, Jackson has eight dunks this season...he has made 19 of his 26 shots (73.1%) from the floor in the last three games...sophomore Keith McLeod (Canton, Ohio/McKinley) had his best offensive game of the season with 23 points in the win over Cleveland State...he had 13 of his points in the first seven minutes of the game helping the Falcons break out to an early lead...he hit eight-of-12 shots from the field, including four-of-five from three-point range...he is second on the team averaging 12.8 points with his nine three-point field goals tops on the team...sophomore Len Matela (Merrillville, Ind./Andrean) continues to give the Falcons a valuable contribution off the bench...he is averaging 12.2 points and 7.0 rebounds, tops on the team, while playing an average of just over 30 minutes per contest...he had 13 points, six rebounds, and four assists in the win over Illinois State last week and 10 points and three rebounds in the Cleveland State contest...he has hit 16-of-20 (80.0%) from the field in the last three games...senior Dave Esterkamp (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle) continues to be one of the best all-around players in the MAC...he is averaging 11.4 points, fifth on the team, 4.8 rebounds, third on the team, and he leads the team with 22 assists and 10 steals...he has hit 18 of his 30 (60.0%) two-point shots this season...Esterkamp leads the team with nine dunks this season...the Falcons have raised their season field goal percentage to 52.2% by shooting 59.3% (89-of-150) in their last three contests...BG has shot 65.8% (73-of-111) on their two-point field goals over the same time period...BG has had 16 dunks in the last three games...sophomore Graham Bunn (Raleigh, N.C./Wake Forest-Rolesville H.S./New Hampton (N.H.) Prep School) did not score in the first two games of the season, but has 19 points the last three games, including 14 in the two games last week...he hit a big three-point field goal with just under four minutes left in the Cleveland State game to get BG's lead back up to double digits...he is averaging 15 minutes per game.
NORTHERN IOWA NOTES: Head coach Sam Weaver is in his second season with his teams having posted a 15-18 record...UNI was 9-18 last year...UNI has six lettermen and three starters returning from last season...thus far this season, the Panthers have four wins by single digits, including one point wins over Alabama (74-73) and Wisconsin-Green Bay (48-47)...they have also beaten Air Force, Missouri-Kansas City, Tennessee State, and Wright State...they have done it thus far with defense allowing only 56.7 points and 37.3% shooting by its opposition...Wright State shot just 24.1% from the field in their loss to Northern Iowa Saturday while scoring only 35 points for the game...guard Robbie Sieverding (5-11, Jr.) has led the team in scoring in four of their six games with three efforts of 20 or more...he is averaging 18.8 points per contest, but is shooting just 34.5% from the floor...he is also averaging 5.7 rebounds and 3.2 assists...he has 17 of the 27 three-point field goals the Panthers have this season shooting 34.7% from beyond the arc...he was 20th in the nation last season shooting 44.7% from beyond the arc...forward Cory Jenkins (6-7, Sr.) is also in double figures at 10.5 points while forward Joe Breakenridge is at 10.7 points and leads the team with an 8.3 rebounding average...Jenkins is averaging 6.8 rebounds...UNI has won 69% of their home games in the UNI-Dome since it opened in 1976...center Tyler Peterson (6-11, Sr.) had 14 points and eight rebounds in the game against Bowling Green last season while Breakenridge added nine points and 11 rebounds.
NEXT WEEK: The Falcons conclude their four-game road swing with a game Dec. 18 against West Virginia which will be played at the Civic Center Coliseum in Charleston, W. Va. The game tips off at 7 p.m. The Falcons return home for a Dec. 22 game against Urbana in their next contest.
Probable Bowling Green Starters
F - Dave Esterkamp, 6-7, 220, Sr., 11.4 ppg, 4.8 rpg F - Anthony Stacey, 6-4, 235, Sr., 17.4 ppg, 6.2 rpg C - Brent Klassen, 6-8, 220, So., 3.0 ppg, 3.2 rpg G - Trent Jackson, 6-4, 205, Jr., 12.0 ppg, 1.8 rpg G - Keith McLeod, 6-2, 185, So., 12.8 ppg, 3.8 apg Off The Bench G - Dubrey Black, 6-3, 185, Jr., 2.0 ppg, 1.2 rpg G - Graham Bunn, 6-1, 170, So., 3.8 ppg, 1.6 apg C - Len Matela, 6-9, 220, So., 12.2 ppg, 7.0 rpg
Compare The Teams
Bowling Green Scoring: 75.0 ppg Scoring Margin: +11.6 FG%: 52.2% 3-Pt. FG%: 33.3% FT%: 76.4% Pts. Allowed: 64.4 ppg FG% Defense: 42.3% Reb. Margin: +2.2
Northern Iowa Scoring: 65.2 ppg Scoring Margin: +8.5 FG%: 42.1% 3-Pt. FG%: 33.3% FT%: 69.6% Pts. Allowed: 56.7 ppg FG% Defense: 37.3% Reb. Margin: +4.0
