Bowling Green State University Athletics
Men's Basketball Visits Eastern Michigan
January 17, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 17, 2006
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Bowling Green (6-8, 2-2) at E. Michigan (3-9, 0-4)
Wednesday, January 18, 7 p.m.
Convocation Center (8,824)
Series Record: BGSU leads 41-35
Last Year: BGSU 79, at EMU 63 (1/12/05)
Radio: BGSU Radio Network (Todd Walker and Kirk Cowan)
FALCONS BACK ON THE ROAD
The BGSU men's basketball team begins a stretch which will see the Falcons play four of the next six on the road. The Falcons are coming off a 59-52 win at home over Toledo, while the Eagles lost 74-64 at home to Kent State on Saturday.
STATS CAN LIE
The Falcons shot a season-high 57.5% from the field, yet lost 75-74 on a last second tip-in to Northern Illinois. Against Toledo, the Falcons shot a season-low 32.7% from the floor, yet won 59-52.
LEFELD, SOLER, WRIGHT LEAD IN MAC GAMES ONLY STATS
Junior center Matt Lefeld is leading the league in field goal percentage in conference games only making 70.6% of his shots in the first four games of league play (12/17). Senior teammate Mawel Soler is second in the conference making 70.0% of his field goal attempts and leads the league in three-point field goal percentage at 66.7% (6/9). Soler made both of his three-point field goal attempts against Toledo. Senior Steven Wright tops the conference in steals per game at 2.5. Wright had five steals against Toledo.
PLAYER NOTES
Senior guard Steven Wright suffered a broken foot in the preseason and missed the first six games of the season ... he made a career-high four three-point field goals against FSU and had a season-high 14 points against Notre Dame... he has averaged 9.5 points and 2.9 rebounds... he had 11 points, five steals and five assists against Toledo... he averaged 11.1 points and 3.1 assists and led the Falcons in steals with 37 a year ago... junior Martin Samarco is the top newcomer in the MAC as far as scoring averaging 17.6 points, which ranks third in the league and leads the league in three-pointers made per game at 3.08... he has led the team in scoring nine times this season and had 27 in back-to-back games against Bradley and Florida State... freshman Erik Marschall is among the top scoring freshman in the MAC averaging 8.5 points... he is among the top shooters in the league making 50.0% of his shots and is sixth in the league in blocked shots at .93 per game... he has scored in double figures six times this season... senior Mawel Soler has made a team-high 69.6% of his shots from the field... he is averaging 7.8 points and 4.9 rebounds and is shooting 72.4% from the floor during his two seasons with the Falcons... he also is second on the team with 33 assists... had a career-high 17 points against Toledo and added nine rebounds and five steals... junior Matt Lefeld is arguably the most improved player in the MAC... last year he scored just 14 points all season, but equaled that in his first game this year against Western Carolina... despite sore feet which limit his practice time, Lefeld is averaging 9.2 points and 4.6 rebounds and is shooting 64.7% from the floor in the last eight games ... junior John Floyd had a career-high 23-point effort, making five of seven three-pointers against Western Michigan... he had eight points and four assists against Northern Illinois... he is shooting 53.3% from three-point range (8/15) in MAC play...junior guard Patrick Phillips made his first career start against Bradley... he had a career-high seven points against Notre Dame and added two rebounds and a steal in seven minutes of action... he also hit his first career three-pointer against CMU... sophomore guard Perrick Robinson is one of the Falcons top defenders... he also has contributed in a timely manner on offense and is averaging 3.2 points... Robinson leads the team with 19 steals and is third in assists with 30... he is the only Falcon to start the season opener in each of the last two seasons ... freshman Dusan Radivojevic saw his first action of the season against Oakland and has been a key performer off the bench... he had a season-high nine points at Troy... he missed the first four games of the season due to a foot injury... he suffered a broken nose in practice last week and is wearing a protective mask... freshman Darryl Clements is averaging 3.0 points and 2.2 rebounds... he had seven points against Oakland... freshman Brian Moten joined the team against Florida State and has the longest shooting range of any Falcon... he had a season-high nine points against Central Michigan... freshman walk-on Brian Guerin returned to game action against Notre Dame after missing more than a month due to mono... sophomore walk-on Alvin Freeman is in his second year with BGSU and had three points against Urbana.
TEAM TRENDS
In the last seven games, BGSU has averaged just 12 turnovers per game after averaging 18.3 in the first seven games of the season... the Falcons lead the MAC (conference games only) in turnover margin at +5.25 per game... BGSU leads the MAC in field goal percentage defense (41.2%) and three-point field goal defense (31.3%) ... the Falcons are 82-20 at home since the 1998-99 season... BGSU also is second in the league in three-point field goal shooting (37.4%)... BGSU improved to 9-0 in home openers under Dan Dakich... the one-point loss to NIU was its first such defeat since the 2001-02 season when BGSU lost at Akron in overtime, 87-86... BGSU had won six straight one-point decisions, including four in the last 12 months (Toledo, 70-69; Ball State, 70-69; Miami, 57-56; Virginia Tech 72-71)... the Falcons are 4-0 on Sunday at home... BGSU also is 7-2 in MAC openers under Dakich... BGSU is 28-3 since the 2001 season when holding an opponent under 60 points... the Falcons are 35-6 since 2000-01 when shooting over 50 percent... the Falcons are now 17-1 over the last three-plus seasons when scoring 80 points or more... against Virginia Tech, the Falcons won their road opener for the third time in Dakich's nine seasons (1999-00 at Hawaii; 2001-2002 at Duquesne)... BGSU is 22-4 when it has had to play defense with a one or two-point lead in the final minute since the 2001-02 season... four teams have shot below 30 percent from the field against BGSU including Urbana (25.5%), CMU (26.2%), Troy (27.8%) and Western Carolina (28.9%).
