Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Open 2008-09 Season At NABC Classic
November 11, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 11, 2008
Bowling Green, Ohio -
Game #1
Bowling Green vs. Georgia State
Nov. 14, 2008 • Minneapolis, Minn. (Williams Arena) • 6 p.m. CT
Radio: www.bgsufalcons.com • Todd Walker (Play-by-Play)
Game Notes vs. Georgia State (16 pages) 
SETTING THE STAGE
• The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team opens year two of the Louis Orr era by playing three games in three days at the NABC Classic in Minneapolis, Minn., hosted by the University of Minnesota.
• BGSU plays Georgia State Friday at 6 p.m. central time, host school Minnesota Saturday at 8 p.m., and NCAA Division II Concordia-St. Paul Sunday at 4 p.m.
• The Falcons have never played either Georgia State or Concordia-St. Paul and are 0-2 against Minnesota, dropping a 64-50 decision in 1980 NIT Tournament and a 70-68 nailbiter at the Motor City Classic early in the 1969-70 season.
THE OPENING TIP (STORYLINES)
• BGSU head coach Louis Orr will try to follow up a season in which he and his coaching staff performed one of the top coaching jobs in the MAC. The Falcons more than doubled its MAC win total for all of 2006-07 (going 7-9 after a 3-13 record the prior year) despite graduating two starters, losing one of its top big men (Erik Marschall) to injury on the eve of the 2007-08 season and having one of its top playmakers and only senior, Ryan Hamblet, declared academically ineligible on the eve of the conference schedule. Despite those obstacles, the squad defeated the teams picked to finish first, second and third in the East Division, including nationally-ranked Kent State, the eventual MAC champion.
• The Falcons welcome a number of fresh faces to the scene. Freshmen Darnell Brown, A'uston Calhoun, and Scott Thomas will begin the college acclimation process. Junior transfers Darion Goins and Adrion Graves are new to the team but will sit out the season per NCAA transfer rules. Among the coaching staff, Louis Twigg is in his first season as an assistant after spending a year at Bloomsburg University.
SCOUTING GEORGIA STATE
• Georgia State went 9-21 a year ago, including a 5-13 record in the Colonial Athletic Association. Much like BGSU head coach Louis Orr, Rod Barnes is beginning his second season with the Panthers, but Barnes has taken an aggressive approach to building his team with transfers, bringing in five players from major programs -- Bernard Rimmer (Mississippi State), Trey Hampton (Ole Miss), Joe Dukes (Wake Forest), Xavier Hansbro (Ole Miss), and Dante Curry (South Florida). Curry will not be eligible until December and will not play against BGSU.
• Georgia State also returns its top three scorers from a year ago in senior Leonard Mendez (16.0 ppg), junior Trae Goldston (9.3 ppg) and senior Rashad Chase (7.5 ppg). Chase led the team with 7.6 rebounds per game, but the Panthers did lose starting point guard D.J. Jones and starting forward Justin Billingslea.
• The Panthers played two exhibition games, defeating Oglethorpe 85-80 and Clark Atlanta 66-61. Nine different players had at least 13 minutes of court time in each of the exhibition games. James Fields led the squad with 17 points against Oglethorpe and Xavier Hansbro had a team-high 14 against Clark Atlanta.
REVVIN' UP THE ENGINE
Bowling Green prepared for the 2008-09 regular season by defeating NCAA Division II Ashland University 87-63 in a home exhibition game Nov. 8. Nate Miller came off the bench to score a game-high 19 points and he added six assists, four steals and four rebounds. Erik Marschall came up one rebound shy of a double-double in his return from injury, posting 11 points and nine rebounds. Brian Moten fired up 18 points and added four steals as the Falcons pestered Ashland into 32 turnovers. Bowling Green added eight blocked shots but the Falcons will look to improve on its performance from the free-throw line, where BGSU went just 8-for-21.
THE MEDIA SAYS THIRD
The Bowling Green men's basketball team was picked to finish third in the Mid-American Conference's East Division in 2008-09 by vote of the MAC News Media Association. The Falcons received 70 points in the poll, trailing only Kent State (124) and Miami (109) in the East. Western Michigan was picked to win the West, followed by Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan. Bowling Green also received two votes as the favorite to win the MAC Tournament.
MILLER TABBED TO SOAR
Bowling Green senior Nate Miller was selected to the Preseason All-Mid-American Conference Team, by vote of the MAC News Media Association, as well as the league's 12 head men's basketball coaches. Miller was joined on the East preseason team by Akron's Nate Linhart, Kent State's Al Fisher, Miami's Michael Bramos, and Ohio's Jerome Tillman. A transfer from UNC Wilmington, Miller has 719 points in his BG career.
NAVIGATING THE SCHEDULE
Bowling Green will play a total of 14 games in "The House That Roars" in 2008-09. Along with the regular conference slate, BGSU will host Wayne State in its home opener and will welcome Detroit, Towson, Eastern Illinois, and Fordham to Anderson Arena. The Falcons will also play a yet-to-be-determined opponent at home in an ESPNU BracketBusters contest. BG will play road non-conference games against Ohio State, Savannah State, Illinois State, Central Arkansas, and Duquesne. The Falcons will also play a road game against Minnesota in the NABC Classic, along with neutral site games in that event against Georgia State and Concordia-St. Paul.
