Bowling Green State University Athletics
Defense A Big Key for Men's Basketball Improvement
January 03, 2007 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 3, 2007
Bowling Green, Ohio - If you are looking for a team to watch during the upcoming 2007 MAC men's basketball season, Bowling Green has emerged as the team which could be the biggest surprise. The Falcons have equaled their win total from 2005-06 as they are tied for the most victories in the league at nine heading into their conference opener Sunday at home against Buffalo at 2 p.m.
BGSU, which has won eight of its last 10, has done so without the services of its second leading scorer in sophomore forward Erik Marschall (New London/11.8 ppg.) for the last seven and one-half games and its third leading scorer and top rebounder in sophomore forward Nate Miller (Springfield/10.2 ppg., 7.6 rpg.) for the first eight games of the season before he became eligible. Marschall is entering the fourth week of his rehabilitation of a broken foot he suffered earlier this year against Arkansas State, and should return to the Falcon lineup shortly.
"We have a competitive team," said BGSU Coach Dan Dakich, who just moved into 10th place on the MAC's all-time win list with 152 in nine-plus seasons at BGSU. "We have a team that battles really hard and doesn't quit and works pretty well with each other."
The Falcons have been one of the top defensive teams in the MAC allowing opponents to shoot a league-low 38.6% from the field, while ranking third overall in scoring defense at 63.3 (third in the MAC). That is a significant improvement over the 71.4 points the team allowed a year ago on 45.7% shooting. Six times this season, opponents have failed to shoot higher than 35 percent in a game against BGSU.
Offensively, BGSU has been led by the MAC's top scorer, senior guard Martin Samarco, who is eighth in the country in scoring at 21.1 points per game. However, seven other Falcons have scored in double figures at least once in a game this season.
Lately, the young squad has begun to show more signs of maturity. With just one player (senior Matt Lefeld) who has played more than one year of Division I basketball, each game has seen a different player rise to the occasion. Earlier this season against South Alabama, junior Ryne Hamblet hit a buzzer-beater for a 65-64 win, and the Falcons also got unexpected contributions from its role players in close road wins at Wright State and Marshall. The Falcons are just one of three teams in the league with at least two road wins in non-conference play.
"We have eight players who are either freshmen or sophomores that are playing 10 minutes or more a game," said Dakich, who has the second-highest winning percentage among men's basketball coaches at BGSU. "As our experience grows, I believe we can compete in our league."
