Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Host Ohio to Open MAC Schedule
January 04, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 4, 2008
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) -
BGSU vs. OHIO
Saturday, Jan. 5, 2008 • 4:00 p.m.
Anderson Arena (4,700) • Bowling Green, Ohio
RECORDS: BGSU 5-7 (0-0 MAC) // Ohio 9-4 (0-0 MAC)
RADIO: Falcon Radio Network - Jason Aldrich and Kirk Cowan
TELEVISION: BCSN (tape delay) - Tom Cole and Greg Franke
SERIES: BGSU leads, 65-56 // STREAK: Ohio - 5
LAST MEETING: Ohio 69, BGSU 59 (March 7, 2007 - Cleveland, Ohio)
BGSU Notes, Stats & Bios in PDF Format (31 pages)
THE GAME
The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team dives into the Mid-American Conference portion of the 2007-08 schedule this weekend ... the Falcons of head coach Louis Orr will conclude a season-long three-game homestand with Saturday's (Jan. 5) MAC opener vs. Ohio University ... tipoff is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena (4,700) ... following the Ohio game, the Brown and Orange will play at Kent State next Saturday (Jan. 12), before returning home to face Buffalo on Thursday, Jan. 17.
THE OPENING TIP
• The Falcons lost to Duquesne, 96-78, on Wednesday (Jan. 2) to close the pre-MAC schedule ... sophomore Otis Polk had a career night off the bench, scoring 17 points in 31 minutes to shatter his previous bests in both categories.
• Polk was one of five double-digit scorers for the Falcons, marking the second time this season that five different players hit twin figures in scoring ... all five BG starters scored at least 10 points in the team's home-opening win over Morehead State on Nov. 17.
• Redshirt freshman Chris Knight was one of those double-figure scorers, with 14 points and a career-high 14 rebounds vs. the Dukes ... the double-double was his second of the season and the second by a BG player in as many games ... junior Nate Miller had a double-double in the Falcons' win over Eastern Illinois (Dec. 29).
MAC SCHEDULE HAS THREE PHASES
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 will play 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 Feb. 22-23.
FALCONS HIT THE BOARDS
The Falcons outrebounded their opponent just twice in the season's first eight games, but BGSU has won the rebounding battle in each of the last four games ... in those four contests - vs. Illinois State, Indiana State, Eastern Illinois and Duquesne - BGSU has a rebounding margin of +8.3, having averaged 40.5 boards to the opponents' 32.2 ... on the season, the Falcons now have a rebounding margin of +0.1, with 420 total rebounds to the foes' 419.
SUCCESS IN MAC HOME OPENERS
The Falcons have won the MAC home opener in each of the last six seasons, and in 12 of the last 13 years ... BGSU's results in the first home game of the MAC schedule during that time can be found in the pdf version o' these notes.
LAST MAC HOME OPENER WAS A DOOZY
If this season's MAC opener is even half as wild, woolly and wacky as last year's, fans are in for a treat ... last season, the Falcons opened the MAC portion of the schedule with a wild win over Buffalo, 74-73, at Anderson Arena (Jan. 7) ... Martin Samarco scored 43 points, including a deep three-point field goal from the left corner with 2.8 seconds left ... the shot capped a late BG rally, as the Falcons had trailed by a 70-59 count with less than five minutes remaining ... BGSU had led by as many as 16 points in the first half, before UB came roaring back to take the double-digit lead in the second half.
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 include WCWA-AM 1230 (Toledo) and WPFX-FM 107.7 (Findlay) ... with Walker in Mobile, Ala., for the Falcon football team's GMAC Bowl contest vs. Tulsa, Jason Aldrich will handle the play-by-play duties for Saturday's Ohio game.
• Student station WBGU-FM 88.1 is the flagship for BG hockey and women's basketball, but carries many 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.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons enter the Ohio game with a 5-7 record on the young season, and BG is coming off a 96-78 loss to Duquesne at Anderson Arena on Wednesday night (Jan. 2) ... that loss came on the heels of a 52-48 win over Eastern Illinois at Anderson Arena (Dec. 29), which 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 by downing BG, 72-55 (Nov. 24), before the Brown and Orange bounced back with a 67-58 win 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 2-3 at home, 2-3 on the road and 1-1 in neutral-site games ... BGSU is averaging 66.7 points per game to the opponents' 68.8 ppg ... the Falcons are shooting 44.8 percent from the field, while allowing the opponents to shoot an even 40.0%.
• Individually, junior Nate Miller has taken over the team's scoring lead ... Miller, who had a double-double in the win over EIU, is averaging 13.5 points per game, and is second on the team with 6.3 rebounds per contest ... he leads the team in steals (1.8 spg) and is second among active Falcons in assists (2.3 apg).
• Redshirt freshman Chris Knight is second on the team in scoring, and leads the Falcons in rebounding ... Knight, coming off a double-double in the Duquesne game, has 13.1 points and 7.3 boards per game to date ... he leads BG with 64 field goals made.
• Junior Darryl Clements has 7.1 points and 3.4 rebounds per game ... he ranks third among active Falcons in scoring, is also third in assists (2.0 apg) and is fourth on the team in rebounding ... freshman Joe Jakubowski is averaging 6.7 points per game ... he tops the Falcons with 3.1 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 ... Larson has 6.5 ppg, 3.1 rpg and 1.1 blocked shots per game ... he is shooting 54.0% from the field (27-of-50) ... Polk has 5.6 ppg after scoring a career-high 17 points vs. Duquesne ... he leads the team in blocks (1.2 bpg), and is shooting an impressive 60.5% from the floor, having gone 26-for-43 through 12 games.
• Junior Brian Moten has 4.3 ppg, and is shooting 50.0% from the field (19-of-38) and 43.8% from the three-point line (7-for-16) ... soph Ryan Sims is averaging 1.6 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 12 games to date for first-year BGSU head coach Louis Orr ... Jakubowski has started each of the last four games, while Knight returned to the lineup for the Duquesne game ... Knight had started the first 10 games of the season, before coming off the bench in the EIU game ... the Falcons went 13-18 overall and 3-13 in MAC play in 2006-07.
SCOUTING OHIO
Ohio will enter Saturday's game with an overall record of 9-4, and the Bobcats have won three of the last four games heading into the MAC opener ... most recently, the 'Cats picked up a 53-47 road win over Bucknell on Wednesday (Jan. 2) ... Ohio is 4-0 at home, 3-3 on the road and 2-1 in neutral-site games ... the team's four losses have come to Holy Cross, Temple, Kansas and Saint Mary's (Calif.) ... the first two of those setbacks came by two points on the road, while the latter loss came in the championship of the Rainbow Classic in Hawai'i ... individually, senior forward Leon Williams leads the team in both scoring and rebounding, and is averaging a double-double ... Williams has 16.9 points and 10.1 rebounds per game this year to date ... three other Bobcats boast double-digit scoring averages, including junior foward Jerome Tillman, who has 14.4 ppg and 7.5 rpg ... senior guard Bubba Walther and junior forward Justin Orr have 11.6 and 10.1 ppg, respectively ... Tillman has started 12 games, while the other three aforementioned players have started all 13 games to date for head coach Tim O'Shea ... junior guard Michael Allen (4.2 ppg, a team-leading 4.2 assists per game) has started each of the last nine contests ... O'Shea welcomed back four letterwinners, including three starters, from last year's team that finished 19-13 overall and 9-7 in MAC action ... O'Shea has a record of 109-86 in his seventh season as a collegiate head coach, all with the Bobcats ... the school's athletics web site is ohiobobcats.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons lead Ohio, 65-56, in the all-time series between the teams, but the Bobcats have won the last five meetings ... the teams met three times last season, with the 'Cats capturing a 67-49 win in Athens (Jan. 11, 2007) and an 88-63 decision at Anderson Arena (Feb. 21, 2007) ... the Falcons also met OU in the first round of the MAC Tournament at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland (March 7, 2007), with the Bobcats ending the Falcons' season with a 69-59 decision ... Ohio swept the teams' two meetings in 2005-06, including a double-OT decision at Anderson (93-90; Feb. 4, 2006) ... BGSU's last win in the series came on Feb. 7, 2005; a 77-62 triumph at Anderson ... the Falcons had won four-straight home games vs. the Bobcats prior to dropping the last two meetings in Northwest Ohio ... the complete list of BGSU-Ohio series results can be found on page 61 of the 2007-08 BGSU media guide (available in pdf format here at BGSUFalcons.com), and a list of the most recent meetings can be found on page 3 of the ol' pdf.
LAST TIME OUT
Visiting Duquesne used fast-break offense, pressing defense and waves of substitutions to run past the Falcons, 96-78, Wednesday night (Jan. 2) ... sophomore Otis Polk paced the home team with a career night off the bench ... Polk scored a career-high 17 points and tied his career standard with seven rebounds ... Polk was one of five double-digit scorers for the Falcons ...junior Nate Miller scored 15 points, while redshirt freshman Chris Knight had 14 points and a career-high 14 rebounds, leading all players in the latter category ... BGSU had a 42-33 advantage on the boards ... DU, however, forced the Falcons into 24 turnovers, scoring 29 points off of those miscues, and used 11 players, with nine of those 11 playing between 19 and 23 minutes each ... Reggie Jackson led the Dukes with 19 points, while Kojo Mensah had 18 ... the visitors had four players in double digits in scoring, while three more players had either eight or nine points apiece ... Duquesne looked like they would run away and hide early on, taking a 15-4 lead with less than six minutes expired ... a 7-0 BG run cut the deficit to only four points, 19-15 ... DU went back up by 12, but the Falcons would score 10-straight points bridging halftime ... BG trailed by just four points, 36-32, at the break, and scored the first two points of the second half ... the Dukes surged back, however, taking a 57-44 lead with 11:46 left ... BG got within four points, at 64-60, but could get no closer ... the final 2:32 featured a parade to the foul line, as 16 of DU's last 18 points came from the stripe.
OTIS PLAYS BIG
• Sophomore Otis Polk has displayed some solid play off the bench this season, and has blossomed over the last few weeks ... the Detroit, Mich., native had a career game on Wednesday (Jan. 2) vs. Duquesne ... Polk had a career-high 17 points vs. the Dukes, and tied his career rebounding best with seven boards ... Polk played 31 minutes, also a career high, in the game.
• Polk also set career standards in field goals made (six) and attempted (10) and free throws made (four) in the DU game ... his previous scoring high was 10 points, in this season's opener vs. Western Carolina (Nov. 9, 2007) ... Polk had established a new career best by halftime on Wednesday ... he had 11 points in the Duquesne contest, going 5-for-7 from the field before the intermission.
• Polk had set his career best with seven rebounds in the Indiana State game (Dec. 22), and grabbed five more in just nine minutes vs. Eastern Illinois (Dec. 29) ... he has 19 rebounds (6.3 rpg) over the last three games, including 12 boards at the offensive end.
• On the year, Polk has made 26 field goals, topping the total for all of his freshman season (18) ... he has already topped his point total for all of last year as well, with 67 points (5.6 ppg) after scoring 41 (1.5 ppg) as a freshman a year ago.
DOUBLE TROUBLE
Redshirt freshman Chris Knight had 14 points and a career-high 14 rebounds in the Duquesne game ... for Knight, the double-double was his second of the season ... the Cincinnati native had 16 points and 10 boards in his collegiate debut, against Western Carolina at the Peggy Cronin Classic in his hometown ... Knight has scored in double digits in nine of the season's first 12 games.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE TROUBLE-TROUBLE
Knight's double-double against Duquesne was BGSU's second in as many games ... junior Nate Miller had 17 points and tied his career high with 14 rebounds in the win over Eastern Illinois (Dec. 29) ... Miller's double-double was his first of the season, but the sixth of his BGSU career ... he leads active Falcons in that category ... his total of six double-doubles includes a triple-double (20 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists) at Buffalo last Feb. 13.
JOE HELPER
Freshman Joe Jakubowski dished out seven assists, the most of his young collegiate career, against Duquesne ... Jakubowski also had 10 points, for his fourth double-digit scoring game of the season ... the Rossford, Ohio native made his first start vs. Illinois State, and has been in the lineup ever since ... he is averaging 28.0 minutes per game this year, but has averaged 31.1 mpg over the last 10 contests.
MOTEN DETECTOR
Junior Brian Moten scored a season-high 12 points in the Duquesne game ... the game marked his second double-digit outing of the season and the seventh of his career ... Moten, who had gotten to the free-throw line just twice in the first 11 games this season, was a perfect 5-for-5 from the stripe vs. the Dukes, tying his career best for FTM.
LUCKY 13
The Falcons allowed Eastern Illinois to score just 13 points in the first half of Saturday's (Dec. 29) game ... BG had not held an opponent to so few points in a half in nearly four years, since the Falcons took a 31-13 halftime lead in a win over Northern Illinois on Feb. 18, 2004, an eventual 69-52 BGSU win ... as always, past single-game records are sketchy, but the Falcons have not held an opponent to fewer than 13 points in a half in over two decades ... such an event has not occurred since at least the 1983-84 season.
MILLER TIME
Junior Nate Miller has been an integral part of the Falcons' offense all season long ... Miller has 10 double-digit scoring games in BG's 12 contests, and has scored at least eight points in every game this year ... he is averaging a team-high 13.5 points per game ... in the span of three games, 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 ... he had eight rebounds to go along with 10 points in the Indiana State game, had a double-double (17p-14r) vs. EIU and added 15 points and seven boards vs. Duquesne ... Miller is second on the team in rebounding (6.3 rpg), and leads the Falcons in steals (1.8 spg).
FALCONS PICKED FOR SIXTH
This weekend marks the opening of the Mid-American Conference portion of the schedule, with all 12 teams in action Saturday or Sunday ... the Falcons have been picked to finish sixth in the MAC'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.
