Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Head to Oakland for Saturday Action
November 30, 2007 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 30, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) -
BGSU at OAKLAND
Saturday, Dec. 1, 2007 • 4:00 p.m.
Athletics Center O'Rena (4,000) • Rochester, Mich.
RECORDS: BGSU 4-2 (0-0 MAC) // Oakland 2-4 (0-0 Summit League)
RADIO: BGSU Radio Network - Todd Walker
TELEVISION: FSN Detroit - Mario Impemba and Rick Mahorn
SERIES: BGSU leads, 3-2 // STREAK: Oakland - 2
LAST MEETING: Oakland 76, at Bowling Green 66 (Nov. 30, 2005)
BGSU Notes, Stats & Bios in PDF Format
THE GAME
The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team continues a three-game road swing, playing in three different states in a 10-day span ... the Falcons of head coach Louis Orr take on Oakland University in a Saturday afternoon (Dec. 1) contest ... tipoff is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. at the Athletics Center O'Rena (4,000), with Fox Sports Net Detroit televising the action ... Mario Impemba will call the play-by-play, with commentary by former NBA standout Rick Mahorn ... following the OU game, the Brown and Orange will conclude the road swing with a Thursday (Dec. 6) game at Northern Colorado, before taking a break for exams.
THE OPENING TIP (STORYLINES)
• The Falcons have won four of the last five games after Tuesday's (Nov. 27) 67-58 victory at Furman ... BGSU led from wire to wire for the third time in those five games.
• BGSU entered the season having gone more than two years without blocking as many as eight shots in a regulation game vs. a Division-I opponent ... now, however, the Falcons have accomplished that feat twice in the first six games of the year ... BG's total of 10 blocks at Furman is the team's highest total vs. a D-I program in at least 13 seasons.
• The Falcons are 3-1 away from Anderson Arena, including a 2-0 record in true road games this season to date ... BGSU's last 2-0 start on the road came in 2001-02, when the Brown and Orange won the first five road games of the year en route to a 24-9 overall record.
TWO-HEADED MONSTER
The Falcons' two sophomore post players, Marc Larson and Otis Polk, have proven to be a successful duo in the season's early going ... Larson and Polk have split time in the lineup, for the most part, averaging a combined 36.5 minutes per game ... the two have combined to average 14.3 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.0 blocked shots per game ... and, Larson and Polk have combined to shoot 68.1 percent from the field through six games.
TWO-HEADED SHOT-BLOCKING MONSTER
Soph Marc Larson had a career-high four blocked shots at Furman on Tuesday (Nov. 27), giving him a total of nine blocks this season to date ... fellow Falcon sophomore post Otis Polk blocked two Paladin shots in that game, increasing his total to nine as well ... Larson and Polk are currently tied for the Mid-American Conference lead in that category.
A BGSU WIN WOULD ...
• give the Falcons a 4-2 lead in the all-time series with Oakland, and snap a two-game series winning streak by the Golden Grizzlies;
• improve BGSU's record to 5-2 after seven games for the first time in three seasons (since the 2004-05 team lost the season opener, then won the next six games);
• give the Brown and Orange three road wins, which would match the total for all of last season.
ROAD WARRIORS
The Falcons are in the midst of a stretch which sees the team play three road games in three different states ... six of the team's first eight games are away from home this season ... the Falcons are currently 2-0 in true road games and 3-1 in games away from Anderson Arena this year to date ... BG won a total of three road games (3-10) and five games away from home (5-11 road and neutral-site games combined) during all of last season.
LAST TIME OUT
The Falcons built a big first-half lead, then held off a late run by host Furman to post a 67-58 win over the Paladins ... Ryne Hamblet led a balanced scoring attack with 13 points, while Nate Miller and Chris Knight added 12 apiece ... Stanley Jones was the lone player in double figures for the hosts, scoring a game-high 15 points ... for the third time in the last five games, BGSU led from wire to wire ... the Falcons shot a blistering 63.0 percent from the field in the first half, opening up a 37-19 lead at the intermission ... BG held Furman to just a 5-for-25 shooting effort (20.0%) in the opening 20 minutes ... Joe Jakubowski had the hot hand in the first half, hitting his first three attempts from three-point range ... the Falcons outscored Furman by a 25-5 count during a 12-minute stretch that spanned the end of the first half and the first minute of the second ... the hosts, trailing by a 41-19 count at the conclusion of that run, rallied to cut the lead to eight points, but Hamblet was 4-for-4 from the free-throw line in the game's final 1:30, and Knight punctuated the win with a dunk in the last minute ... BGSU shot 50.9% from the field for the game, while holding Furman to a 32.7% success rate ... the Falcons also held the rebounding advantage, with 37 boards to the Paladins' 32 ... Furman went to the free-throw line 27 times (making 20) to BG's 10 ... Jakubowski and Otis Polk each had nine points on the night, while Marc Larson had four of BG's 10 blocked shots.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons enter the Oakland game with a 4-2 record on the young season ... BGSU, as mentioned, is coming off a 67-58 win at Furman on Tuesday (Nov. 27) ... the Falcons lost a three-point game to Western Carolina to open the season, before posting a three-game winning streak ... those wins came over Belmont, Cincinnati and Morehead State.
• Temple snapped that streak by downing BG, 72-55, last Saturday (Nov. 24), before the Brown and Orange bounced back with the win at Furman ... the Falcons are 1-1 at home, 2-0 on the road and 1-1 in neutral-site games ... BGSU is shooting 46.8 percent from the field, while allowing the opponents to shoot just 38.3%.
• Individually, redshirt freshman Chris Knight leads the team in both scoring and rebounding, with 14.0 points and 6.5 boards per game ... junior Nate Miller is second on the team in both categories, with 13.3 points and 5.5 boards per contest ... Ryne Hamblet, the team's lone senior, has 11.2 points, 3.8 caroms and a team-leading 5.2 assists per contest to date.
• Sophomore Marc Larson has 8.5 ppg, 3.2 rpg and 1.5 blocked shots per game ... he is tied for the team - and the MAC - lead in the latter category, and is shooting 60.7% from the field (17-of-28) ... classmate Otis Polk is averaging 5.8 points and 3.8 boards per game, and is tied with Larson for first on the BG and MAC blocked-shot lists ... Polk is shooting an otherworldly 78.9% from the floor, having gone 15-for-19 through six games.
• Junior Darryl Clements and freshman Joe Jakubowski each have 5.0 ppg ... Clements is also averaging 4.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists to rank third on the Falcons in both categories ... Jakubowski is second on the team with 2.7 helpers per contest, and he leads the Brown and Orange in three-point field goals made.
• Junior Brian Moten has 4.5 ppg, and is shooting 57.9% from the field (11-of-19) and 50.0 from the three-point line (5-for-10) ... soph Ryan Sims is averaging 1.8 ppg ... freshman Cameron Madlock made his collegiate debut in the Morehead State game.
• Clements, Hamblet, Knight, Larson and Miller each have started all six 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 ... the Falcons went 13-18 overall and 3-13 in MAC play in 2006-07.
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 three of the last five games (Belmont, Morehead State and Furman) ... in fact, BGSU has led during nearly 67 percent of this season's 240 minutes played ... the Falcons have trailed just over 27% of the time to date ...the complete game-by-game breakdown can be found in the pdf version o' these notes at the top of the page, if you're so inclined.
SCOUTING OAKLAND
Oakland enters Saturday's game with a 2-4 record, and the Golden Grizzlies are looking to snap a three-game losing streak ... the last two losses have come on the road to Top-25 teams, as OU suffered a narrow loss to Michigan State, 75-71, last Saturday (Nov. 24) before falling at Xavier by a 93-68 final Wednesday (Nov. 28) ... the Grizzlies are 2-1 at home on the year to date, with wins over Adrian and Eastern Michigan and a loss to Duquesne ... individually, junior forward Derick Nelson leads the team in scoring and rebounding, with 18.0 points and 8.3 boards per game ... senior guard Brandon Cassise and sophomore guard Johnathon Jones are averaging 15.2 and 12.2 ppg, respectively ... Jones leads the team with 3.0 assists per game ... junior center Shane Lawal has 7.5 points and 7.3 rebounds per outing ... freshman forward Will Hudson (4.0 ppg) joined the aforementioned four players in the starting lineup in Wednesday's game at XU, although a total of nine different players have started at least one game this year to date ... the Golden Grizzlies' top returning scorer from last season, junior guard Erik Kangas, was injured in the team's season opener and missed the next four games ... he returned to play 12 minutes off the bench in the Xavier game, scoring six points ... head coach Greg Kampe, a 1978 BGSU grad, is in his 24th season at OU and has a record of 381-291 ... he welcomed back eight letterwinners, including three starters, from last year's team that finished 19-14 overall and 10-4 in Mid-Continent Conference play (the Mid-Con changed its name to the Summit League for the 2007-08 academic year) ... the school's athletics web site is www.ougrizzlies.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons lead Oakland, 3-2, in the all-time series between the teams, but the Grizzlies have won the last two meetings ... that includes a 77-53 blowout the last time the teams met in Rochester (Dec. 30, 2004) ... the most recent game came at Anderson Arena the following season (Nov. 30, 2005), with OU posting a 76-66 win ... the Falcons and Golden Grizzlies have split the two prior matchups at the Athletics Center O'Rena, including a 69-57 Falcon win eight years ago (Dec. 7, 1999) ... the complete list of BGSU-OU game-by-game series results can be found on page 3 of the above pdf.
FAMILIAR FACE ON THE OTHER BENCH
As mentioned, Oakland head coach Greg Kampe is a BGSU alumnus ... Kampe, now in his 24th season at the Golden Grizzlies' helm, is a 1978 BG grad, and played both football and basketball for the Falcons.
SHOOTING THE LIGHTS OUT
The Falcons shot 50.9 percent from the field in Tuesday's (Nov. 27) win at Furman ... BGSU has now shot 50% or better in three of the season's first six games ... the Falcons shot a blazing 66.7% from the field in the win over Morehead State, BG'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.
A FEW MORE NOTES FROM THE FURMAN GAME
• Senior Ryne Hamblet was a perfect 7-for-7 from the free-throw line in the win at Furman, setting a BGSU career best for free throws made in the process ... Hamblet tied his career standard as a Falcon, with two blocked shots vs. the Paladins.
• Junior Darryl Clements matched his season- and career-best totals with six rebounds.
• Freshman Joe Jakubowski's total of three three-point field goals was the highest of his brief collegiate career ... he leads the Falcons with seven successful three-pointers this season to date.
• Sophomore Marc Larson's four blocks vs. the Paladins doubled his previous career high ... he had had two blocks in a game on five prior occasions.
• Soph Otis Polk set a season best and matched his career standard with six rebounds ... he also had six boards during last season's Toledo game (Feb. 3, 2007) ... Polk also matched his career high in both field goals made (four) and steals (one), and set a new standard with six FG attempted in the Furman game.
• Furman's 32.7% field-goal percentage was a season low for a BGSU opponent ... the Falcons have now held five of the six foes to under 40 percent from the field this year.
• BGSU's win gave the Falcons four victories in the month of November for the first time since 2001-02 (4-1).
DIFFERENT PLAYERS STEPPING UP
Through the first six games, no fewer than eight different BGSU players have had at least one double-digit scoring game this year to date ... senior Ryne Hamblet, junior Nate Miller and redshirt freshman Chris Knight each have hit double figures in five of the six games, while sophomore Marc Larson has three double-digit outings ... juniors Darryl Clements and Brian Moten, soph Otis Polk and freshman Joe Jakubowski have scored at least 10 points on one occasion.
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 in the opener against Western Carolina ... the next night, he obliterated that total, with 14 points as the Falcons defeated Belmont ... 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 scored 11 more points vs. Temple, and is averaging 8.5 points per game ... with a total of 51 points this year to date, Larson has more than tripled his scoring total for all of last season.
HOME-OPENING SUCCESS
BGSU's 86-70 win over Morehead State (Nov. 17) 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.
SHARING THE WEALTH
BGSU has enjoyed success on offense in the season's early going, 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.
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 ... through six games this year, the Falcons have 71 turnovers, an average of 11.8 per game.
KNIGHT FEVER
Chris Knight had a pretty successful return to his hometown a few weeks back ... the Cincinnati native opened his collegiate playing career as BG participated in 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.
BLOCK PARTY
BG had gone more than two years without blocking as many as eight shots in a regulation game vs. a Division-I opponent ... this year, however, the Falcons have accomplished that feat twice in the first six games ... BG's total of 10 blocks at Furman is the team's highest vs. a D-I program in well over a decade ... BG had eight blocks in an overtime game at Buffalo last season (Feb. 13, 2007), and the Falcons had had nine rejections in last year's win over Michigan Tech (Dec. 27, 2006).
