Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Face Sycamores to Close Pre-Christmas Schedule
December 21, 2007 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 21, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) -
BGSU at INDIANA STATE
Saturday, Dec. 22, 2007 • 2:00 p.m.
Hulman Center (10,200) • Terre Haute, Ind.
RECORDS: BGSU 4-5 (0-0 MAC) // Indiana State 4-5 (0-0 Missouri Valley)
RADIO: BGSU Radio Network - Todd Walker
SERIES: BGSU leads, 2-0 // STREAK: BGSU - 2
LAST MEETING: BGSU 65, at Indiana State 55 (Dec. 29, 2001)
BGSU Notes, Stats & Player Bios in PDF Format
THE GAME
The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team, after playing at home for the first time in over three weeks, now returns to the road for the final time in 2007 ... the Falcons of head coach Louis Orr will head to Terre Haute, Ind., to meet Indiana State University in a matchup of 4-5 teams ... tipoff is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. at ISU's Hulman Center (10,200) ... following the ISU game (and a quick holiday break), the Brown and Orange will return home for a season-long three-game homestand just after Christmas ... that homestand begins with a Dec. 29 game vs. Eastern Illinois at venerable Anderson Arena.
THE OPENING TIP (STORYLINES)
• The Indiana State game marks the Falcons' seventh away from home in the season's first 10 contests ... following Saturday's game, BGSU will play the next three at Anderson, beginning a stretch in which six of the next eight games are at home.
• The Falcons made eight three-point field goals - going 7-for-10 from beyond the arc in the second half - in Sunday's (Dec. 16) Illinois State game ... after averaging 4.0 successful treys over the first seven games of the year, BGSU has now made 18 (9.0 per game) in the last two contests.
• Junior Darryl Clements made four of the team's eight three-pointers vs. Illinois State, doubling his previous career high ... Clements scored a career-high 18 points vs. the Redbirds.
• Freshman Joe Jakubowski made the first start of his collegiate career in that game ... Jakubowski took the place of senior Ryne Hamblet in the lineup ... Hamblet has been declared academically ineligible for the remainder of the 2007-08 season.
HAVE A HAPPY HOLIDAY
Sometimes, when Christmas is looming on the horizon, people tend to get distracted from their daily duties in anticipation of the holiday ... the men's basketball Falcons, however, have not found such potential distractions to be a problem in the recent past ... BGSU is looking to continue a lengthy streak, as the Falcons have won the final game before Christmas in each of the last 14 seasons ... the last time BG lost the last game prior to the holiday came in the 1992-93 season, when the Falcons fell to Detroit ... 11 of the 14 wins came at Anderson Arena, but each of the last two seasons has seen the Brown and Orange head into the holiday with a road win (at Troy two years ago, at Marshall last season) ... the other road win came against Ohio State in the 1994-95 campaign.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons enter the Indiana State game with a 4-5 record on the young season, and BG is looking to snap a three-game losing streak ... BGSU is coming off a 69-58 home loss to Illinois State Sunday (Dec. 16) ... prior to that game, the Falcons had not played since a 64-60 overtime loss at Northern Colorado on Dec. 6 ... that concluded a three-game road stretch in which the Brown and Orange had a 67-58 win at Furman (Nov. 27) before suffering a 90-80 setback at Oakland (Dec. 1) ... 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 (Nov. 24), before the Brown and Orange bounced back with the win at Furman ... the Falcons are now 1-2 at home, 2-2 on the road and 1-1 in neutral-site games ... BGSU is shooting 46.2 percent from the field, while allowing the opponents to shoot just 40.0%.
• Individually, redshirt freshman Chris Knight leads the team in both scoring and rebounding, with 14.0 points and 6.8 boards per game ... junior Nate Miller is second on the team in both categories, with 13.3 points and 5.2 boards per contest, and also has 2.4 assists per game.
• Junior Darryl Clements, coming off a career-high 18-point effort vs. Illinois State, is averaging 7.7 points and 3.8 rebounds per game ... he ranks third among active Falcons in scoring, rebounding and assists (2.0 apg) ... sophomore Marc Larson has 7.1 ppg, 2.9 rpg and 1.1 blocked shots per game ... he is tied for the team lead in the latter category, and is shooting 58.3% from the field (21-of-36).
• Freshman Joe Jakubowski and soph Otis Polk are averaging 5.7 and 4.3 ppg, respectively ... Jakubowski tops all active Falcons with 2.6 helpers per contest, and he also leads the Brown and Orange with 12 three-point field goals made and a 40.0% long-range percentage (12-of-30) ... Polk is tied with Larson for the team's blocked-shots lead, and is shooting an impressive 73.9% from the floor, having gone 17-for-23 through nine games.
• Junior Brian Moten has 3.3 ppg, and is shooting 52.2% from the field (12-of-23) and 54.5% from the three-point line (6-for-11) ... soph Ryan Sims is averaging 1.4 ppg, while freshman Cameron Madlock has seen action in two games.
• Clements, Knight, Larson and Miller each have started all nine games to date for first-year BGSU head coach Louis Orr, while Jakubowski made his first collegiate start in the Illinois State game ... the Falcons went 13-18 overall and 3-13 in MAC play in 2006-07.
LAST TIME OUT
BGSU battled back from a 16-point deficit to tie the score in the second half, but visiting Illinois State was able to rally for a 69-58 win over the Falcons Sunday afternoon (Dec. 16) ... junior Darryl Clements scored a career-high 18 points to lead all players, while redshirt freshman Chris Knight had 14 ... Dom Johnson led the visitors with 16 points, pacing four Redbirds in double digits ... Osiris Eldridge and Levi Dyer each scored 11 points, while Brandon Sampay had 10 ... the visitors built a 16-point lead in the first half as BG struggled on offense ... a late three-pointer by Clements cut the Falcons' deficit to 32-19 at the half ... BGSU started the second half by scoring the first seven points, completing a 10-0 run and cutting the Redbirds' lead to just six ... the teams traded points over the next few minutes, before Dyer's triple gave the visitors a double-digit lead once again, at 39-28 ... those were the Redbirds' last points for nearly four minutes ... the Falcons proceeded to go on an 11-0 run, beginning with back-to-back three-pointers from Knight ... when junior Brian Moten's three-point try found nothing but net, the game was tied with 12:17 remaining ... the Redbirds, however, would respond, as Sampay scored the game's next four points, and the visitors never trailed again ... BG was within 52-50 with six minutes left, but Emmanual Holloway connected from behind the arc on the ensuing possession, and a triple by Dyer gave ISU a 58-50 lead with 4:57 left ... the visitors would hit 7-of-8 free throws in the final minute to seal the deal.
HAMBLET DECLARED ACADEMICALLY INELIGIBLE
BGSU senior Ryne Hamblet has been declared academically ineligible and will miss the remainder of the 2007-08 season ... the announcement was made Thursday (Dec. 20) ... a native of Chicago, Ill. (Von Steuben H.S./Chipola [Fla.] JC), Hamblet appeared in the Falcons' first eight games this season, averaging 12.6 points, 3.9 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game ... the 6-5 guard played in a total of 38 games for the Falcons after coming to BGSU prior to the 2006-07 academic year.
CAREER HIGH FOR CLEMENTS
Junior Darryl Clements scored a career-high 18 points against Illinois State ... for Clements, it marked the second time in the last three games that he set or matched his career standard ... the Detroit, Mich., native had tied his career best when the Falcons played near his hometown on Dec. 1, with 13 points vs. Oakland ... he scored 13 points in the second half alone in the Illinois State contest, and now has five career double-digit scoring games, including three this year ... Clements also set career bests in field-goal attempts (12), three-point field goals made (four) and minutes played (38) ... he tied his previous career bests for FG made (five) and free throws made (four) in the Illinois State game.
MORE ON CLEMENTS
Darryl Clements averaged 5.0 points per game over the season's first six contests ... in the last three games, the junior has averaged 13.0 ppg ... he has made 12 of his 22 shots from the field during that time and - including a 3-for-3 performance at Furman (Nov. 27) - is 15-for-25 (60.0%) from the floor in the last four games ... Clements has gone 7-for-11 from three-point range (63.6%) during that time.
JOE STARTER,br> Freshman Joe Jakubowski made the first start of his brief collegiate career vs. Illinois State ... while Jakubowski, who was on the cover of the free souvenir game program, had not been the starting lineup prior to Sunday's game, he has seen plenty of time on the court ... he played 37 minutes for the second consecutive game ... Jakubowski is averaging 26.1 minutes per game this year, but has averaged an even 30.0 mpg over the last seven contests.
A FEW MORE NOTES ON THE STARTING LINEUP
• Prior to the Illinois State game, Falcon head coach Louis Orr had utilized the same starting lineup in each of the season's first eight games ... by contrast, the 2006-07 Falcons used eight different lineups over the first eight games of the year.
• In fact, BG used 11 different combinations in the first 11 games last year, and the Falcons did not start the same lineup in back-to-back games until the 14th and 15th games of the '06-07 season ... BGSU used 23 different starting lineups in last season's 31 games.
• Prior to this season, BGSU had not used the same starters for as many consecutive games since the 2001-02 season ... that year, the lineup of Erik Crawford, Brent Klassen, Len Matela, Keith McLeod and Brandon Pardon started at least 10 consecutive games on two occasions (13-straight games from Nov. 28, 2001 to Jan. 23, 2002; 10-straight games from Jan. 30, 2002 to Feb. 27, 2002).
KNIGHT FEVER
• Redshirt freshman Chris Knight has had a successful start to his BGSU career, to say the least ... after sitting out all of last season, he shook off the rust rather quickly ... Knight has had seven double-digit scoring outings in his first nine collegiate contests, including three games of at least 20 points.
• The Cincinnati native opened his collegiate playing career in his hometown 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.
• At that tournament, 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 capped the weekend with a 24-point, eight-rebound performance in a 69-67 win over UC (Nov. 11) ... he was 10-of-16 from the field, including a 2-for-3 performance from three-point range in that win.
• Knight began the month of December with a 23-point game at Oakland (Dec. 1), and had a 14-point, nine-rebound performance vs. Illinois State ... he currently leads the Falcons in both scoring (14.0 ppg) and rebounding (6.8 rpg).
KNIGHT FEVER II
Currently, Chris Knight is one of five players - and is the only freshman - to rank in the top-10 in the MAC in both scoring and rebounding ... Knight is tied for seventh in scoring and ranks fourth in the league in rebounding ... Akron's Jeremiah Wood, Miami's Tim Pollitz and Ohio's Jerome Tillman and Leon Williams join Knight in the top-10 of both lists ... Knight is the only freshman in the top-10 on either list, much less both lists.
MILLER TIME
Junior Nate Miller has been heavily involved in the Falcons' offense this season ... Miller has seven double-digit scoring games, and has scored at least eight points in every game this year ... he is averaging 13.3 points per game this season ... in the span of three games, Miller tied his career high with 21 points twice, vs. both Temple and Oakland ... Miller, who shot just 27.0% from the field over the first three games, shot 62.2% in the next four contests, going 28-for-45 in that time.
OH THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS ... WELL, YOU KNOW THE REST
The brutal weather in Northwest Ohio (and in much of the Midwest) resulted in an attendance of just 659 hardy souls at Anderson Arena on Sunday afternoon (Dec. 16) ... the inclement weather and blizzard conditions prevented two of the three referees originally scheduled to work the game from reaching Anderson Arena for the BGSU-Illinois State game.
SCOUTING INDIANA STATE
Indiana State, like BGSU, will enter Saturday's game with an overall record of 4-5 ... the Sycamores are coming off a loss at Tulane, 80-68, on Monday night (Dec. 17) ... ISU is 0-5 on the road, but a perfect 4-0 at home this year to date, including wins over two MAC schools - Northern Illinois (75-65; Nov. 20) and Ball State (59-48; Dec. 8) - at the Hulman Center ... overall, the Falcons will be the fourth MAC team ISU has met this year ... the Sycamores have also faced Miami, falling on the road by a 74-58 final (Dec. 4) ... individually, sophomore guard Marico Stinson leads a balanced scoring attack with 11.1 points per game, while senior guard Gabe Moore has 10.0 points and a team-leading 4.0 assists per contest ... sophomore guard Harry Marshall has 9.0 ppg, and junior F/C Jay Tunnell has 7.3 ppg and 4.6 rebounds per outing ... senior forward Todd McCoy (4.3 ppg, 3.7 rpg) joined the aforementioned four players in the starting lineup at Tulane, but a total of nine different players have started at least one game for head coach Kevin McKenna ... Moore and Stinson each have started all nine games this year to date ... McKenna, in his first season at ISU, inherited seven letterwinners, including three starters, from last year's team that finished 13-18 overall and 5-13 in Missouri Valley Conference play ... McKenna has a record of 93-38 in his fifth year as a collegiate head coach ... the school's athletics web site is GoSycamores.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons lead Indiana State, 2-0, in the all-time series between the teams ... BGSU has met the Sycamores once at home and once on the road ... the most recent meeting came in Terre Haute, as the Brown and Orange posted a 65-55 win nearly six years ago (Dec. 29, 2001) ... in that game, Keith McLeod had 32 points for the Falcons, including 22 in the second half, to give the Falcons a nine-game winning streak ... the other meeting came at Anderson Arena, 22 years and one day prior to this season's meeting (Dec. 21, 1985) ... in that contest, the Falcons downed the Sycamores by a 62-57 count.
COMMON OPPONENTS
BGSU and Indiana State will play a number of common opponents this season ... the Falcons are already the fourth MAC team that the Sycamores will face ... ISU has home wins over Northern Illinois (75-65, Nov. 20) and Ball State (59-48, Dec. 8) and a road loss to Miami (58-74, Dec. 4) ... the Sycamores will face fellow Missouri Valley Conference member Illinois State twice this season ... BGSU's most recent game was Sunday's (Dec. 16) home contest vs. the Redbirds.
SHOOTING THE LIGHTS OUT
The Falcons have had a higher field-goal percentage than the opponent in seven of the season's first nine games ... on the year, BGSU is shooting 46.2 percent from the floor, while allowing the opposition to shoot an even 40.0%.
IN THE FOUR WINS THIS SEASON ...
• BGSU has shot 52.6 percent from the field;
• the Falcons have held the opponents to a FG pct. of just 35.5%;
• BG has turned the ball over just 10.8 times per game; and
• the Falcons have shot 18.8 free throws per game, going 78.7% from the line.
IN THE FIVE LOSSES ...
• BGSU has shot 41.4% from the field, while the opponents have shot 43.5%;
• the Falcons have turned the ball over 17.2 times per game; and
• BG has shot just 14.2 free throws per game, going 50-for-71 (70.4%).
LEADERS OF THE MAC
Entering the Indiana State game, the Falcons rank at the top of the Mid-American Conference in several team categories ... BGSU leads the MAC in free-throw percentage (74.7%, 109-for-146), field-goal percentage defense (40.0%) and blocked shots (4.44 bpg) ... the Falcons are second in the league in three-point FG pct. defense (29.7%), and BG is third in assists (14.44 apg).
