Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Host Temple Saturday
November 21, 2007 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 21, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) -
BGSU vs. TEMPLE
Saturday, Nov. 24, 2007 • 2:00 p.m.
Anderson Arena (4,700) • Bowling Green, Ohio
RECORDS: Bowling Green 3-1 (0-0 MAC) // Temple 1-3 (0-0 Atlantic 10)
RADIO: BGSU Radio Network - Todd Walker and Kirk Cowan
SERIES: Temple leads, 1-0 // STREAK: Temple - 1
LAST MEETING: Temple 79, at Bowling Green 70 (Dec. 7, 1983)
BGSU Notes, Stats & Player Bios in PDF Format
FALCONS HOST TEMPLE SATURDAY
The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team, after posting a 3-1 record to begin the 2007-08 season, hosts an Atlantic 10 Conference team for the first time in nearly seven years ... the Falcons of head coach Louis Orr conclude a two-game homestand with a Saturday (Nov. 24) game vs. Temple University ... tipoff is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena (4,700) ... following the Temple game, the Brown and Orange will hit the road for three-straight contests in three different states, facing Furman (Nov. 27), Oakland (Dec. 1) and Northern Colorado (Dec. 6) before taking a break for exams.
THE OPENING TIP (STORYLINES)
• As mentioned, the Falcons are welcoming an Atlantic 10 Conference team to town for the first time in nearly seven years ... the last member of the current A-10 configuration to venture into Anderson Arena was Duquesne ... BGSU posted a 92-77 win over the Dukes on Dec. 2, 2000, at "The House That Roars" ... Duquesne is on the Falcons' schedule this season as well, as BG closes the non-conference slate vs. DU on Jan. 2.
• The Falcons shot a blazing 66.7 percent from the field in Saturday's (Nov. 17) 86-70 win over Morehead State ... that marked BGSU's highest field-goal percentage in a game in nearly 13 years, since a 67.8% shooting effort vs. Central Michigan in 1994-95 ... the school single-game record is 70.2%, on Feb. 12, 1979, against - Duquesne.
• The Falcons are 3-1 for the first time in three years ... the last such start came in 2004-05, when BG lost the season opener before winning the next six games.
LEAD, TRAIL, OR GET OUT OF THE WAY
In basketball, obviously, the goal is to be leading on the scoreboard at the end of the game ... one way to make sure that happens is to lead for the entire game ... the Falcons have led from wire to wire in two of the last three games (Belmont and Morehead State) ... in fact, BGSU has led during 72.0 percent of this season's 160 minutes played to date ... the Falcons have trailed just over 22% of the time.
LAST TIME OUT
All five BGSU starters scored in double digits as the Falcons posted an 86-70 win over Morehead State Saturday (Nov. 17) ... the Falcons led from start to finish ... senior Ryne Hamblet and junior Nate Miller each scored 16 points in the win, while sophomore Marc Larson added 14 to match his career high ... Larson was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field as the Falcons shot 66.7 percent (28-for-42) as a team ... BG's field-goal percentage was the team's best in nearly 13 years ... junior Darryl Clements added 11 points and redshirt freshman Chris Knight had 10 to round out the Falcons' double-figure scorers ... BG's balanced effort offset the 35-point outburst by MSU's Leon Buchanan.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
The Falcons enter the Temple game with a 3-1 record on the young season, and BGSU has won three-straight games ... most recently, as mentioned above, the Brown and Orange opened the home schedule with Saturday's (Nov. 17) 86-70 win over Morehead State ... the Falcons are 1-0 at home, 1-0 on the road and 1-1 in neutral-site games ... BGSU is shooting 49.1 percent from the field, while allowing the opponents to shoot just 36.3% ... individually, redshirt freshman Chris Knight leads the team in both scoring and rebounding, with 17.5 points and 6.0 boards per game ... Ryne Hamblet, the team's lone senior, has 12.5 points, 3.8 rebounds and a team-leading 6.0 assists per contest to date ... junior Nate Miller rounds out the Falcons' double-digit scorers with 11.8 ppg, and also averages 4.8 rebounds per outing ... sophomore Marc Larson has 8.5 ppg to date, and is shooting 76.9% from the field (10-of-13) ... junior Brian Moten and sophomore Otis Polk are averaging 6.3 and 5.5 ppg, respectively, and each player has a FG pct. of over 70 percent ... Moten is shooting 71.4% from both the field (10-of-14) and the three-point line (5-for-7) to date, while Polk is 9-of-11 (81.8%) from the floor through the first four games ... junior Darryl Clements is averaging 5.3 points, 4.3 boards and 3.3 assists per game, while freshman Joe Jakubowski has 4.8 points and 2.5 helpers per contest to date ... soph Ryan Sims is averaging 1.3 ppg ... freshman Cameron Madlock made his collegiate debut in the Morehead State game ... Clements, Hamblet, Knight, Larson and Miller each have started all four games to date for first-year BGSU head coach Louis Orr ... the Falcons returned a total of eight letterwinners from last season's team, including five of the top-seven scorers and three starters from the lineup that BGSU used down the stretch.
A BGSU WIN WOULD ...
• give the Falcons their first-ever victory over Temple (the Owls currently lead the series, 1-0);
• improve BGSU's record to 4-1 after five games for the first time in three seasons (since the 2004-05 team lost the season opener, then won the next six games); and
• give the Falcons four wins in the month of November for the first time since 2001-02 (4-1).
HOME-OPENING SUCCESS
BGSU's win over Morehead State extended a lengthy streak ... the Falcons have won the home opener in 16 consecutive seasons and in 21 of the last 22 years ... BG's last home-opening loss came against Findlay in the 1991-92 campaign.
LENDING A HELPING HAND
No fewer than three players had at least five assists in the Morehead State game ... senior Ryne Hamblet and freshman Joe Jakubowski had six apiece, while junior Darryl Clements had five ... Clements and Jakubowski, who shared the Falcons' point-guard duties for the bulk of the game, combined for 11 assists and just one turnover.
SHARING THE WEALTH
BGSU has enjoyed success on offense in the first four games, in no small part because of the Falcons' penchant for sharing the ball ... BG had four double-digit scorers in each of the season's first three games, and five different players scored at least 10 points in the win over Morehead State.
DIFFERENT PLAYERS STEPPING UP
Through just four games, no fewer than eight different BGSU players have had at least one double-digit scoring game this year to date ... senior Ryne Hamblet and redshirt freshman Chris Knight each have hit double figures in all four games, while junior Nate Miller has three double-digit outings and sophomore Marc Larson two ... juniors Darryl Clements and Brian Moten, soph Otis Polk and freshman Joe Jakubowski have one such game apiece.
SHOOTING SUCCESS
As mentioned, BGSU shot a blistering 66.7% from the field, making 28-of-42 shots in the win over Morehead State ... that is BG's highest field-goal percentage in a game in nearly 13 years, since a win over Central Michigan in 1994-95 ... the Falcons shot 60% from the field in one game last season - the win at Morehead State.
SHOOTING SUCCESS II
BGSU is shooting 49.1 percent from the field through four games ... by contrast, the Falcons are letting opponents shoot only 36.3% this year to date ... the Falcons have shot at least 50.0% from the field in two of the last three games, while Morehead State's 39.2% FG rate was a season high for a BGSU opponent.
LARSON-Y
Sophomore Marc Larson needed just two games to top his scoring total for all of last season ... Larson, who scored a total of 15 points as a freshman, had a career-high six points against Western Carolina ... the next night, he obliterated that total, with 14 points as the Falcons defeated Belmont ... Larson had set a new career best by halftime, with eight points in the opening period ... the Mattawan, Mich., native had a perfect shooting day, going 4-for-4 from the field and 6-for-6 from the line, en route to another 14-point game vs. Morehead State ... he is averaging 8.5 points per game through the first four contests.
TAKING CARE OF THE BALL
A big part of the Falcons' 69-67 win over Cincinnati (Nov. 11) was the team's ability to take care of the basketball ... BGSU turned the ball over just six times against the Bearcats, including only once in the entire first half ... the total of six turnovers was the Falcons' lowest since a four-turnover game against Michigan Tech last season (Dec. 27, 2006) ... BG had not had so few turnovers in a game against a Division-I team in over a decade, since a five-turnover game vs. Central Michigan on Feb. 7, 1996.
KNIGHT FEVER
Chris Knight had a pretty good weekend in his hometown ... the Cincinnati native opened his collegiate playing career as BG played at the Peggy Cronin Classic (Nov. 9-11) ... Knight was named the MVP of the three-day, four-team tournament, and was named the MAC Player of the Week (Nov. 12) for his efforts ... he averaged 20.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game, shooting 56.8 percent from the field ... Knight had a double-double in his collegiate debut, with 16 points and 10 rebounds in the Falcons' narrow loss to Western Carolina (Nov. 9) ... he had the first 20-point game of his brief career the following night (Nov. 10), making eight of his 13 shots from the field en route to 20 points in BGSU's win over Belmont ... Knight also had three boards, three assists and a pair of steals ... he capped the weekend with a 24-point, eight-rebound performance in a 69-67 win over UC ... he was 10-of-16 from the field, including a 2-for-3 performance from three-point range in that win.
FALCONS SIGN THREE
The Falcons signed three student-athletes to National Letters of Intent during the early signing period ... Darnell "Dee" Brown (Detroit, Mich.), Austin Calhoun (Southfield, Mich.) and Scott Thomas (Delaware, Ohio) will join the Falcon program for the 2008-09 academic year ... Brown, a 6-2 point guard, helped Country Day H.S. to the Michigan Class B state title last season, averaging nearly 17 points per game ... Calhoun, a 6-7 forward, averaged a double-double for Southfield H.S. a year ago ... Thomas, a 6-6 forward, had 24 points, nine rebounds and six assists en route to third-team All-Ohio honors at Buckeye Valley H.S. last season.
BLOCK PARTY
The Falcons blocked a total of eight shots in the season opener vs. Western Carolina (Nov. 9) ... that marked the team's highest single-game total since an overtime game at Buffalo last season (eight blocks on Feb. 13, 2007) ... BG had nine blocked shots in last year's win over Michigan Tech (Dec. 27, 2006) ... the Falcons' eight blocks vs. WCU, however, was the team's highest total in a regulation game vs. a Division-I team since Feb. 7, 2005 (nine blocks in a win over Ohio).
SCOUTING TEMPLE
Temple is 1-3 on the young season ... the Owls lost at Tennessee (80-63, Nov. 9) to open the season, then went 1-2 at the Puerto Rico Tipoff Classic last weekend ... TU lost narrow decisions to Providence (66-64, Nov. 15) and Charleston (79-76, Nov. 16) before bouncing back with an overtime win over Marist (73-69, Nov. 18) ... individually, junior guard Dionte Christmas is averaging 19.5 points per game to lead the team, while senior guard Mark Tyndale has 15.8 ppg and 4.8 rebounds per contest ... sophomore guard Ryan Brooks has added 8.5 ppg off the bench, while freshman forward Lavoy Allen has 7.3 ppg and a team-leading 5.3 rpg ... junior guard Semaj Inge (5.3 ppg, 2.8 rpg) and junior center Sergio Olmos (4.8 ppg, 4.3 rpg) join Allen, Christmas and Tyndale in the probable starting lineup for head coach Fran Dunphy ... Dunphy, in his second year with the Owls, welcomed back eight letterwinners, including four starters, from last year's team ... the 2006-07 club finished 12-18 overall and 6-10 in Atlantic 10 Conference play ... Dunphy is 323-184 in his 19th season as a collegiate head coach ... the school's athletics web site is www.owlsports.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons trail Temple, 1-0, in the all-time series between the teams ... the lone previous meeting came at Anderson Arena nearly 24 years ago (Dec. 7, 1983), as the Owls came to Northwest Ohio and posted a 79-70 win.
FALCONS VS. THE A-10
The Falcons have a record of 35-51 against the schools currently in the Atlantic 10 Conference ... BGSU has met Dayton 25 times, with a 9-16 series record, and the Falcons have faced Duquesne on 22 occasions (9-13) ... BG has also faced Saint Joseph's (4-8), Xavier (6-4), La Salle (1-5), St. Bonaventure (3-2), Saint Louis (2-1), Fordham (1-0) and Rhode Island (0-1), in addition to the one prior meeting with Temple.
UP NEXT
The Falcons will begin a three-game road swing with a Tuesday (Nov. 27) contest at Furman ... BGSU then plays at Oakland (Dec. 1) and Northern Colorado (Dec. 6) before taking a break for exams ... following the Temple game, BGSU's next home action is a Dec. 16 game vs. Illinois State.
