Bowling Green State University Athletics
Men's Basketball Visits Marshall
January 04, 2005 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 4, 2005
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
BOWLING GREEN (7-2, 1-0) at MARSHALL (2-8, 0-2) Thursday, January 6 - 7 p.m. Henderson Center (9,043) - Series Record: BGSU leads 29-23 Last Meeting: at BGSU 88, Marshall 73 (1/31/04)
The Opening Tip
The Falcons are in their eighth season under head coach Dan Dakich. Dakich is second all-time at BGSU in winning percentage (.572) and fifth all-time in wins with a 123-92 record.
BGSU is 28-3 when shooting over 50% in a game since the 2000-01 season. The Falcons lead the MAC shooting 52.3% from the field this season.
In the last three home games, BGSU is shooting 65.4% from the field connecting on 106 of 162 field goals against Bluffton, IPFW and Buffalo at Anderson Arena. The Falcons have shot over 50% on the road twice this season (at Detroit and Youngstown State).
BGSU is rated #93 in the latest RPI. BGSU is ranked #96 in the country in the Jeff Sagarin Basketball Ratings. The MAC is the 11th highest rated conference in the country according to Sagarin.
BGSU is 23-1 since the 2000-01 season when holding an opponent to 59 points or less. The lone blemish came in 2002 when the Falcons lost a 56-54 contest at Marshall.
The Falcons scored a season-high 95 points against Buffalo. That total is the most the Falcons have scored in a MAC game since January 8, 2000 when they won at Buffalo, 96-90. That total also represents the most points scored in a MAC game at home under Dan Dakich. The previous high was 93 against Toledo in 2000. BGSU is 18-0 when scoring 90 points or more since the 1997-98 season. BGSU also is 15-1 over the last two-plus seasons when scoring 80 or more.
Senior Josh Almanson leads the MAC averaging 19.1 points on 64.4% shooting from the field. He has scored in double figures in every game this season after never scoring in double-digits in more than three straight games prior to this season. He has added 11.1 points per game to his scoring average this season compared to last year.
Senior John Reimold is eighth in the MAC averaging 15.4 points, and ranks second in the league in field goal percentage (57.5%) and first in three-point field goal percentage (47.9%). He needs 19 points to become the 33rd player in BGSU history to score 1,000 points or more with the Falcons.
Junior Steven Wright is 12th in the MAC in scoring and has more than doubled his scoring average from last season averaging 14.4 points per game, after contributing 6.5 ppg., last season.
Junior John Floyd is second in the league in assists averaging 5.6 assists per game and is coming off a game where he scored a career-high 19 points against Buffalo.
MORE ABOUT THE MARSHALL GAME
BGSU is 7-4 against Marshall since the Thundering Herd rejoined the league in 1997-98. All of Marshall's wins against the Falcons in the last eight seasons have come in Huntington.
Last year, Marshall led 40-38 at halftime before the Falcons rallied for an 88-73 triumph in Anderson Arena. John Reimold had 28 points for the Falcons, while Mark Patton added 17.
This is the fourth straight year that the teams will play only once during the regular season.
Unless the teams play in the MAC Tournament, this will be the final meeting since Marshall is joining Conference USA next season.
Marshall enters the game having lost seven of its last eight, including an 88-83 defeat to Central Michigan on Sunday. They are 0-2 in the league after falling at Eastern Michigan, 90-88, on November 30.
In those two league games, opponents are shooting 50.4%, while averaging 89 points against the Herd.
Freshman Joe Miles leads the Herd averaging 14.5 points. Sophomore Mark Patton is averaging 11.6 points and 8.8 rebounds.
The last four games in Huntington have been decided by an average margin of six points or less. In the Falcons' two wins in the Henderson Center in 1999 and 2000, BGSU has gone on to win 18 games (1999) and 22 games (2000).
