Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Host Buffalo Thursday
January 16, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 16, 2008
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) -
BGSU vs. BUFFALO
Thursday, Jan. 17, 2008 • 7:00 p.m.
Anderson Arena (4,700) • Bowling Green, Ohio
RECORDS: BGSU 6-8 (1-1 MAC) // Buffalo 6-8 (0-2 MAC)
RADIO: Falcon Radio Network - Todd Walker and Kirk Cowan
TELEVISION: BCSN (tape delay) - Tom Cole and Greg Franke
SERIES: BGSU leads, 11-4 // STREAK: Buffalo - 1
LAST MEETING: at Buffalo 98, BGSU 90 (OT) (Feb. 13, 2007)
Coach Orr Press Conference | BGSU Notes, Statistics & Player Bios in PDF Format 
THE GAME
The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team prepares for a busy stretch of the Mid-American Conference schedule ... the Falcons of head coach Louis Orr will begin a stretch which sees the team play three times in a seven-day span, beginning Thursday (Jan. 17) ... BGSU will host the University at Buffalo, with tipoff scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena (4,700) ... following the UB game, the Falcons will head to Akron for a Sunday (Jan. 20) contest, before returning home to face Miami on Wednesday, Jan. 23.
THE OPENING TIP
• The Falcons are coming off a 63-49 loss at Kent State on Saturday night (Jan. 12) ... KSU took a 12-0 lead to start the game ... after BG got within four points, at 16-12, the Flashes made a 10-0 run.
• Junior Nate Miller had 17 points to lead the Falcons in scoring for the second-straight game and the third time in the last four contests ... Miller leads the Falcons in scoring, with 13.7 points per game, and has a team-leading 15.0 ppg in the two MAC games to date.
• Sophomore Otis Polk led BGSU in rebounding at KSU, with seven boards, and also had a career-high four blocked shots ... Polk has averaged 7.0 rebounds and 1.8 blocks over the last five games ... he has a team-high 21 offensive boards (4.2 per game) during that span.
B IS FOR BIZARRE: WHEN BG MEETS BUFFALO, WACKINESS ENSUES
The Falcons have had their share of close games over the last few years, but BGSU's two 2006-07 meetings with Buffalo were nothing short of surreal ... in the first meeting, Martin Samarco scored 43 points, including the game-winning three-pointer, as the Falcons picked up a 74-73 win at Anderson Arena (Jan. 7, 2007) ... Eric Moore had 35 points for the Bulls, including a whopping 11 three-pointers ... each team saw a double-digit lead slip away in the game ... in the return match (Feb. 13, 2007), the Bulls downed the visiting Falcons, 98-90 in overtime ... the Falcons thought they had a win in regulation, but - after the teams had headed to their lockerrooms - BGSU was issued a technical foul for delay of game, and UB's Yassin Idbihi hit two free throws to tie the contest and force the overtime period ... Nate Miller had a triple-double in that game, with 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for the Brown and Orange.
THE MILLER 500
Junior Nate Miller's first basket in Saturday's Kent State game put him over the 500-point mark for his BGSU career ... Miller is the Falcons' active scoring leader ... he now has a total of 516 points in 37 career games at the University, an average of 13.9 ppg ... to put that into historical perspective, Miller's ppg average is higher than 17 of the 36 players on BG's list of 1,000-point scorers.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons enter the Buffalo game with a 6-8 record on the season, and BGSU is off to a 1-1 start in MAC play ... BG opened the league schedule with a 52-49 home win over Ohio (Jan. 5), before losing at Kent State, 63-49, Saturday (Jan. 12) ... the Falcons won two of three games on the homestand that closed the 2007 calendar year and began '08, with a 52-48 win over Eastern Illinois (Dec. 29) and a 96-78 loss to Duquesne (Jan. 2) at Anderson Arena ... the EIU win had snapped a four-game losing streak.
• The Falcons opened the season with a three-point loss to Western Carolina, before posting a three-game winning streak ... those wins came over Belmont, Cincinnati and Morehead State ... Temple snapped that streak with a win over BG, before the Brown and Orange bounced back with a nine-point decision at Furman to close the month of November ... the losses during the Falcons' four-game streak came to Oakland, Northern Colorado, Illinois State and Indiana State, with none of them by more than 11 points.
• The Falcons are 3-3 at home, 2-4 on the road and 1-1 in neutral-site games ... BGSU is averaging 64.4 points per game to the opponents' 67.0 ppg ... the Falcons are shooting 43.6 percent from the field, while allowing the opponents to shoot justs 40.2%.
• Individually, junior Nate Miller leads the team in scoring ... Miller, who had a double-double in the win over Ohio and a team-high 17 points at KSU, is averaging 13.7 points per game, and is second on the team with 6.1 rebounds per contest ... he leads the team in steals (1.7 spg) and is second among current Falcons in assists (2.4 apg).
• Redshirt freshman Chris Knight is second on the team in scoring, and leads the Falcons in rebounding ... Knight has 12.4 points and 7.1 boards per game to date, and is shooting 46.4% from the field ... Knight's total of 70 field goals made is just two behind Miller's team-leading total.
• Junior Darryl Clements has 7.6 points and 3.4 rebounds per game ... he ranks third among active Falcons in scoring, and is second in steals (1.3 spg), third in assists (1.9 apg) and fourth on the team in rebounding ... freshman Joe Jakubowski is averaging 6.1 points per game ... he tops the Falcons with 2.8 assists per game, and also leads the Brown and Orange with 15 three-point field-goals made.
• Sophomores Marc Larson and Otis Polk have split time at center ... the two players currently have identical field-goal rates, as each player is 27-for-52 (51.9%) from the floor to date ... Larson has 5.8 ppg, 3.0 rpg and 1.1 blocked shots per game ... Polk has 5.1 ppg and 4.7 rpg, ranking third on the team in the latter category ... he leads the Falcons in blocked shots, with 19 (1.4 bpg) this season to date.
• Junior Brian Moten has 4.9 ppg, and is shooting 44.4% from the field and 40.9% from the three-point line ... soph Ryan Sims is averaging 1.5 ppg, while freshman Cameron Madlock has seen action in four games ... sophomore Matt Karaffa made his collegiate debut in the Indiana State contest.
• Clements, Larson and Miller each have started all 14 games to date for first-year BGSU head coach Louis Orr ... Jakubowski has started each of the last six games, while Knight has started 13 times, including each of the last three ... the Falcons went 13-18 overall and 3-13 in MAC play in 2006-07.
SCOUTING BUFFALO
Buffalo, like BGSU, will enter Thursday's game with an overall record of 6-8 ... the Bulls are 0-2 in the MAC after a pair of single-digit losses ... UB opened the league schedule with a five-point loss at Kent State (63-68; Jan. 6), and the Bulls' most recent game was a 76-68 setback to Akron on Saturday (Jan. 12) ... UB is looking to snap an overall three-game losing streak, having dropped a 101-90 game at UNC-Asheville in overtime (Dec. 29) prior to starting the MAC schedule ... the Bulls are 4-1 at home, 0-6 on the road and 2-1 in neutral-site games this year ... individually, junior guard Andy Robinson leads a balanced scoring attack, with 10.2 points per game ... no fewer than eight UB players are averaging over 5.0 ppg ... sophomore guard Sean Smiley has 9.8 ppg, and has made a team-high 28 three-point field goals ... two more sophomore guards, Rodney Pierce and Calvin Betts, average 8.1 and 7.7 ppg, respectively ... Pierce paces the team in assists (1.7 apg), while Betts leads the Bulls in both rebounding (5.4 rpg) and blocked shots (0.7 bpg) ... Pierce, Robinson, junior G/F Greg Gamble (7.5 ppg) and junior Vadim Fedotov (5.9 ppg) have started all 14 games this season, while sophomore forward Kambi Laleye (2.1 ppg) has started each of the last five contests for head coach Reggie Witherspoon ... Witherspoon welcomed back 11 letterwinners, including three starters, from last year's team that finished 12-19 overall and 4-12 in MAC action ... Witherspoon has a record of 101-147 in his ninth season at the school, and a 145-170 mark in his 11th overall year as a collegiate head coach ... the school's athletics web site is www.buffalobulls.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons lead Buffalo, 11-4, in the all-time series between the teams, but the Bulls won the most recent meeting ... the teams split last season's two matchups, as mentioned, with the Falcons winning a 74-73 decision at Anderson Arena (Jan. 7, 2007), but UB rebounding with a 98-90 overtime win in New York (Feb. 13, 2007) ... in a series that begin in the 1998-99 season, the Falcons are 7-1 in home games vs. the Bulls, with the only home loss coming two years ago - a 76-73 UB win on Jan. 24, 2006 ... overall, the Falcons won the first nine series meetings, but the Bulls have won four of the last six ... the complete list of BGSU-UB series results can be found on page 59 of the 2007-08 BGSU media guide (available in PDF format here at BGSUFalcons.com), as well as in the PDF of these notes.
LAST TIME OUT
Host Kent State broke out to an early lead, scoring the game's first 12 points en route to a 63-49 win over BGSU ... junior Nate Miller led the Falcons with 17 points, making 7-of-11 shots from the field ... classmate Darryl Clements also was in double figures, with 11 points ... Chris Singletary led the Flashes with 20 points, while Mike Scott had 14 ... after KSU took that 12-0 lead, the Falcons battled back to within 16-12 midway through the first half ... but, the Flashes then would score the next 10 points, and BG could get no closer than eight points the rest of the night ... KSU took a 30-20 lead into the lockerroom, and had an answer for every BGSU comeback attempt ... the Golden Flashes shot 43.9 percent from the field to the Falcons 42.2% ... BGSU shot an even 50 percent in the second half ... the hosts held a 36-29 rebounding advantage, and had a 17-9 margin in points off turnovers ... Fisher had eight points and Haminn Quaintance six for the Flashes ... Scott had a double-double, grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds to go along with his 14 points, while Singletary added five steals and Fisher four ... junior Brian Moten had seven points and redshirt freshman Chris Knight six for the Falcons ... sophomore Otis Polk had a team-high seven boards and a career-high four blocked shots in the game ... in addition to leading BG in those two categories, he also tied for the team lead with a pair of assists ... Knight had six rebounds and a career-high three rejections for the Brown and Orange.
MILLER TIME
Junior Nate Miller has been an integral part of the Falcons' offense all season long ... Miller has 12 double-digit scoring games in BG's 14 contests, and has scored at least eight points in every game this year ... he is averaging a team-high 13.7 points per game, and has led the Falcons in scoring three times in the last four games ... in the span of three games from late November to early December, Miller tied his career high with 21 points twice, vs. both Temple and Oakland ... that was part of a four-game span in which Miller shot 62.2% from the field, going 28-for-45 in that time ... over the last five games (Indiana State, Eastern Illinois, Duquesne and Ohio), Miller is averaging 14.4 points and 7.8 rebounds per outing ... for the season, Miller is second on the team in rebounding (6.1 rpg), and he leads the Falcons in steals (1.7 spg).
OTIS PLAYS BIG
• Sophomore Otis Polk has displayed some solid play off the bench this season, and has blossomed over the last few weeks ... in the Kent State game Saturday (Jan. 12), Polk scored three points, but led the Falcons in rebounds (seven) and blocked shots (a career-high four) ... and, the 6-9 center also had two assists to tie for the team lead in that department.
• Polk has averaged 7.0 rebounds and 1.8 blocks over the last five games ... he has set or matched his career rebounding best three times in that span ... the Detroit native had seven boards in the Indiana State game (Dec. 22), and grabbed five more in just nine minutes vs. Eastern Illinois (Dec. 29) ... Polk had seven more rebounds in the DU contest, before setting a new career mark with nine vs. Ohio (Jan. 5).
• Polk had a breakout game vs. Duquesne (Jan. 2), scoring a career-high 17 points and tying his career rebounding best (since broken) with seven boards ... Polk played 31 minutes, also a career high, in the game.
• Polk has had a total of 21 offensive rebounds over the last five games ... he had posted as many as three offensive boards in a game twice in his first 37 career contests, but has had at least three ORs in each of the last five games ... his total of six offensive rebounds vs. Ohio was a career high.
• On the year, Polk has made 27 field goals, has scored 72 points (5.1 ppg) and has pulled down 66 rebounds (4.7 rpg), topping his totals for all of last year ... as a freshman, Polk had totals of 18 FGM, 41 points (1.5 ppg) and 55 boards (2.0 rpg).
DOUBLE(-DOUBLE) TROUBLE
The Falcons had a player record a double-double in three consecutive games before that streak was snapped at Kent State ... junior Nate Miller and redshirt freshman Chris Knight each have had two double-doubles this year to date ...
• Miller's two double-doubles this year came during the Falcons' recently-completed three-game homestand ... Miller had 13 points and 10 rebounds in the win over Ohio ... the Springfield, Ohio, native had 17 points and 14 boards in the Eastern Illinois game ... Miller now has seven career double-doubles, the most among current Falcons ... that total includes a triple-double (20 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists) at Buffalo last Feb. 13.
• Knight had a double-double in his collegiate debut, in his hometown, no less ... the Cincinnati native had 16 points and 10 boards in his first game at BGSU, against Western Carolina at the Peggy Cronin Classic on the UC campus ... his other double-double came in the Duquesne game, as he had 14 points and a career-high 14 rebounds vs. the Dukes.
FIELD-GOAL PCT. DOES NOT HAVE TO DICTATE SUCCESS
Falcon head coach Louis Orr has repeatedly stressed to his team that their field-goal percentage does not need to dictate their success ... in other words, there are other things the team can do to win games, even if the shots are not falling ... it would appear that the coach knows of what he speaks ... in the Falcons' last two wins, over Eastern Illinois (Dec. 29) and Ohio (Jan. 5), BGSU has had field-goal percentages of 29.1% and 30.2%, respectively ... those are the team's lowest shooting rates of the season thus far ... BGSU won those games by doing the little things - outrebounding the opponent, getting to the foul line more than the other team, playing solid defense and making the hustle plays that don't necessarily show up on the stat sheet ... in the Ohio game, for example, BG outrebounded the Bobcats by a 39-33 count, and got to the free-throw line 22 times to the visitors' nine.
JUST TO DRIVE THAT POINT HOME ...
A few more tidbits to drive the 'FG pct. need not dictate success' point home ...
• The Falcons have had their lowest season totals for both points scored and field goals made in the Eastern Illinois and Ohio games ... BG made exactly 16 field goals and scored exactly 52 points in each of those two games, but won both contests.
• Ironically, the Falcons have lost each of the last three games in which they have shot better than 45.0% from the field (including a 54.2% field-goal rate in the Oakland game), but BG has gone 2-0 when shooting less than 31.0% this year to date.
FALCONS HIT THE BOARDS
The Falcons outrebounded their opponent just twice in the season's first eight games, but BGSU then won the rebounding battle in five consecutive games ... in those five contests - vs. Illinois State, Indiana State, Eastern Illinois, Duquesne and Ohio - BGSU had a rebounding margin of +7.8, having averaged 40.2 boards to the opponents' 32.4 ... KSU ended that streak, with a 36-29 advantage over the Falcons ... on the season, BGSU and the opponents are dead even, as both the Falcons and the foes have pulled down 488 boards.
THE EAST IS A BEAST, BUT THE WEST'LL ALSO BE A TEST
The 2007-08 season is the second utilizing the current MAC scheduling format for men's basketball ... each of the 12 schools will play 16 league games, opening conference action with five intra-divisional games ... then, after six cross-divisional contests, each school will play five more intra-divisional games to close the regular season ... so, BGSU plays five games vs. East Division schools to begin and end the season, with six games vs. the West Division teams in the middle of the conference schedule ... each of the 12 MAC schools will interrupt the league slate long enough to play a game in the O'Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters event on the weekend of Feb. 22-23.
BLOCK PARTY
The Falcons had a total of eight blocked shots in the Kent State game, the third time this season that BG has had as least eight rejections ... BGSU leads the MAC in blocks, with an average of 4.50 per game.
A FEW MORE NOTES FROM THE KENT STATE GAME
• Despite Saturday's loss at Kent State, BGSU still has enjoyed greater success than most folks at the M.A.C. Center in recent years ... the Golden Flashes now have a record of 63-14 in the building during the Jim Christian head-coaching era ... only seven of those 14 losses have come against MAC opposition ... BGSU, however, has given KSU three of those losses, having gone 3-3 vs. the Flashes in the venue during that time ... Akron (two wins) is the only other team to win more than once at the M.A.C. Center in that stretch.
• Junior Darryl Clements tied his season and career highs for field goals made (five) and attempted (12) ... he also had his second blocked shot of the year.
• Redshirt freshman Chris Knight had three blocks, the most of his young career.
• Junior Nate Miller set a season high and tied his career best with two three-pointers made in the game ... he also had two successful treys in last year's Eastern Michigan game (Feb. 10, 2007).
• Junior Brian Moten played a season-high 30 minutes, and tied his season bests in rebounds (three), assists (two) and steals (one).
• The Falcons entered the Kent State contest leading the MAC in field-goal percentage defense, at 39.9% ... KSU entered the game leading the conference in FG accuracy, with a 46.8% rate ... the Flashes' field-goal percentage for the game was relatively close to the middle of those two figures, as KSU was 25-for-57 (43.9%).
CLEMENTS COMING ON
Junior Darryl Clements has become a key contributor for the Falcons this season ... Clements entered the season with a total of two double-digit scoring games in his career, but has six in this year's 14 games ... he had 11 points at Kent State ... Clements led the Falcons in scoring in two-straight games, with a career-high 18 points vs. Illinois State and 12 more at Indiana State ... with 106 points this season to date, Clements has already topped his point total for all of last season (87).
MANY WAYS TO FOLLOW THE FALCONS
• All BGSU men's basketball games are aired on the Falcon Sports Radio Network, with Todd Walker calling the action ... former Falcon standout Kirk Cowan provides color commentary at home games ... stations on the network in the greater Bowling Green area have included WCWA-AM 1230 (Toledo) and WPFX-FM 107.7 (Findlay) ... due to some recent difficulties beyond BGSU's control, men's games have been temporarily moved from 107.7 to 106.3 on the FM dial.
• Student station WBGU-FM 88.1, the flagship for BG hockey and women's basketball, carries men's basketball games when there is not a conflict with one of the aforementioned sports ... the announcers vary by game.
• Nearly every home game is televised in the Toledo area by the Buckeye Cable Sports Network (BCSN) ... a number of BGSU's other 2007-08 games are scheduled to be televised as well ... the Falcons' Feb. 10 home game vs. Toledo will be shown on ESPNU ... BG's Feb. 13 contest at Eastern Michigan is scheduled to be aired by Comcast Local ... the Feb. 19 game at Ohio will be part of the ESPN Full Court package, and the Falcons' final regular-season game, at Miami on March 9, will be aired by FSN Ohio and has been changed to a noon start.
MOTEN DETECTOR
Junior Brian Moten scored a season-high 12 points in the Duquesne game, and followed that up with a 10-point game vs. Ohio ... the latter game marked his third double-digit outing of the season and the eighth of his career ... he then scored seven points in 30 minutes at Kent State ... Moten, who had gotten to the free-throw line just twice in the first 11 games this year, has gone 10-for-12 from the stripe over the last three games ... he was a perfect 5-for-5 from the line vs. the Dukes, tying his career best for FTM.
JOE OF ALL TRADES
Freshman Joe Jakubowski has gotten some valuable on-the-job training in his first few months in a Falcon uniform, and has helped his new team in multiple ways ... Jakubowski dished out seven assists, the most of his young career, against Duquesne, and set a new standard with three steals in the Ohio game ... he had 10 points, his fourth double-digit scoring game of the season, against DU, one game after just missing a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds (vs. EIU) ... the Rossford, Ohio native made his first start vs. Illinois State, and has been in the lineup ever since ... he has played 28.5 minutes per game this year, but has averaged 34.0 mpg - tied for the team lead - over the last seven contests.
FALCONS PICKED FOR SIXTH
The Falcons have been picked to finish sixth in the Mid-American Conference's East Division in the 2007-08 preseason poll ... the poll is the result of voting by members of the MAC News Media Association ... BGSU received 47 points in the poll, five fewer than Buffalo ... Kent State was the voters' choice to win the East Division, narrowly beating out Miami for that honor ... Ohio and Akron were tabbed to place third and fourth, respectively, followed by UB and BGSU ... Western Michigan was picked to win the West Division, nearly 30 points ahead of Toledo ... KSU received seven votes to win the MAC Tournament, while WMU received six and Ohio and Miami five apiece ... the Falcons received one vote to win the league tourney, which will be held at Quicken Loans Arena in downtown Cleveland from March 12-15, 2008.
UP NEXT
Following the Buffalo game, the Falcons will face the two teams that played in the championship game of last year's First Energy MAC Tournament ... BGSU will head to Akron for a Sunday (Jan. 20) night game, beginning at 7:00 p.m. ... then, the Falcons will return to venerable Anderson Arena to face Miami (Jan. 23) and Northern Illinois (Jan. 27) .
