Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Face Ohio State Monday Night In Columbus
November 23, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 23, 2008
Bowling Green, Ohio -
Game #5
Bowling Green (3-1) at Ohio State (1-0)
Nov. 24, 2008 • Columbus, Ohio (Value City Arena) • 8 p.m.
Radio: Falcon Radio Network • Todd Walker
Television: Big Ten Network • Gus Johnson/Jimmy Jackson
SETTING THE STAGE
• The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team plays its second Big Ten opponent this year, traveling to Columbus, Ohio to play the Ohio State Buckeyes. BGSU's only loss came to Minnesota 68-61 Nov. 15.
• Ohio State holds a slim 3-2 advantage in the all-time series, but the in-state rivals have not played since the 1994-95 season when Bowling Green won 59-50.
• Bowling Green has not opened a season 4-1 since the 2004-05 squad went 6-1 to start the year. A year ago, BGSU was 3-1 before a 72-55 loss to Temple.
THE OPENING TIP (STORYLINES)
• With the return of Nate Miller and Chris Knight to active duty, Bowling Green's depth was a huge factor in the win over Wayne State Thursday night. The Falcons scored 43 points off the bench and went 10 deep without skipping a beat. Ohio State's depth was also on full display in its season-opening win over Delaware State as the Buckeyes used 14 players and got 23 points from its subs.
• BGSU has turned up its defensive intensity in 2008-09, holding opponents to just 38 percent shooting. As well, the Falcons have forced more turnovers than they have committed in all four games this year. On the flip side, Ohio State had just seven turnovers against Delaware State Thursday evening.
• Senior Darryl Clements continues to impress with increased confidence and improvement compared to a year ago. He has scored in double figures in three consecutive games, is scoring at a clip more than double his average a year ago (14.8 points compared to 7.2 in 2007-08) and is averaging more than four assists and four rebounds per contest. He also leads the team with 11 steals.
SCOUTING OHIO STATE
• Ohio State went 24-13 a year ago, including 10-8 in the Big Ten, winning the NIT Tournament to conclude the season. The Buckeyes won seven of their final eight games to gain momentum for 2008-09.
• Although OSU closed the season strong, the Buckeyes lost three starters and five letterwinners from that squad. The 2008-09 team is extremely young without a senior on the roster. Only three players (David Lighty, Danny Peters, and Mark Titus) have two varsity letters. Head coach Thad Matta added eight new players, including four scholarship freshmen.
• Ohio State is just outside of the top 25 currently and is receiving 27 votes in the USA Today poll and 49 votes in the AP Poll.
• The Buckeyes had little trouble in its season opener, defeating Delaware State 70-42. William Buford and David Lighty had 13 points each as 14 players saw action in the game. Ohio State had just seven turnovers and forced 20.
MAKING THINGS INTERESTING
Bowling Green won its opener in one of the most thrilling regular season games imaginable. Darryl Clements and Brian Moten made three-pointers in the final 15 seconds of regulation just to force overtime and Joe Jakubowski knocked down a 25-foot three-pointer as the buzzer sounded to beat Georgia State 77-76 in the first extra session. Jakubowski's shot was made possible by center Marc Larson, who tracked down an offensive rebound on a missed three-pointer with less than five seconds left and kicked the ball out to Jakubowski for the final shot.
WE MUST PROTECT THIS HOUSE (THAT ROARS)
Anderson Arena has always been a difficult place for opponents and the Falcons opened the building in 2008-09 by defeating Wayne State by 32 points. Bowling Green made "The House That Roars" especially tough on conference foes a year ago, going 6-2. Those six victories included wins over the teams picked to finish first (Kent State), second (Miami) and third (Ohio) in the East Division preseason poll. In fact, the team was roughly two minutes away from a perfect home record in MAC action, losing to Central Michigan in overtime and to Akron by nine points. CMU forced overtime on a putback with 0.9 seconds left in regulation, while Bowling Green led Akron with just over two minutes remaining and trailed by just one point with under a minute left.
RISING STOCK
Two of the contributing factors to Bowling Green's fast start are the Falcons improvement in scoring and in free-throw shooting. BGSU is averaging almost 15 more points per game than a year ago and is shooting free-throws at a 78.5 percent clip, a huge improvement over 63.3 percent in 2007-08.
CLEMENTS' CAREER WEEKEND
Senior guard Darryl Clements was named to the NABC Classic All-Tournament team after setting his new career scoring high not just one time, but twice during the weekend. Clements made a crucial three-pointer with 15 seconds remaining in regulation that helped pushed the season opener against Georgia State to overtime -- a game the Falcons eventually won. He then scored a career-high 19 points in the team's loss to Minnesota, before pumping home 22 in BGSU's win over Concordia St. Paul. He also led Bowling Green in assists, steals and field goal percentage during the weekend.
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.
BLOCK PARTY, HOSTED BY OTIS
Junior Otis Polk moved into ninth place on the career BGSU blocked shots chart with a block against Concordia St. Paul. His 84 career blocks are just 34 shy of Tom Hall's school record of 117 from 1989-92. A year ago, he had four blocks in four different games, ending the season with 51, the second highest single-season total in Bowling Green history. Cornelius Cash set the mark with 59 blocks in 1973-74.
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 hosted Wayne State in its home opener (an 80-48 win) 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 already played three road/neutral site games in Minneapolis, Minn. at the NABC Classic.
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.
FRESH FACES
Head coach Louis Orr announced the signing of two players for the 2009-10 season during the early signing period. Luke Kraus, of Findlay, Ohio (Findlay HS), and Danny McElroy, of Cincinnati, Ohio (La Salle HS), will join the Falcons next year. Kraus is a two-time player of the year in the Greater Buckeye Conference and McElroy is a tenacious defender who averaged 14.2 points and seven rebounds per game as a junior. Those two will join transfers Darion Goins and Adrion Graves, both of which are sitting out the 2008-09 season due to transfer rules.
SIMS GRANTED RELEASE
Junior guard Ryan Sims has been granted his release to transfer. The Fort Wayne, Ind. native played in 57 games during his career at Bowling Green, but played just eight minutes in one game at the NABC Classic prior to asking for his release.
FALCONS' NEST COACHES SHOW
BGSU men's basketball coach Louis Orr appears on the Falcons' Nest Coaches Show each Monday evening. The show runs from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m., and normally is scheduled for live broadcast from Fricker's in Bowling Green (1720 E. Wooster Street).
THAT'S THE TICKET
BGSU men's basketball coach Louis Orr will talk live on 1470 WLQR "The Ticket" throughout the year. He is scheduled to be on host Norm Wamer's show Tuesday afternoons at 4:30 p.m. to discuss the team.
FOLLOW THE FALCONS
Live statistics for all BGSU home men's basketball games are available on the web via Gametracker. Gametracker allows fans to view in-game stats as they occur, and may be accessed by going to the official site of Falcon athletics, BGSUFalcons.com. Falcon fans can utilize Gametracker for home events in numerous BGSU sports, including football, men's and women's basketball, hockey, men's and women's soccer, volleyball, baseball and softball.
