Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Play Defending MAC Champion Kent State Wednesday
January 12, 2009 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 12, 2009
Bowling Green, Ohio -
Game #15
Bowling Green (8-6, 1-0 MAC East) at Kent State (7-8, 0-1 MAC East)
Jan. 14, 2009 • Kent, Ohio (MAC Center) • 7:00 p.m.
Radio: Falcon Radio Network • Todd Walker
Complete Release in PDF Format 
Coach Orr Weekly Press Conference Audio
SETTING THE STAGE
• The Bowling Green State University men's basketball meets Kent State for the 141st meeting between the two programs. BGSU holds a 78-62 advantage in the all-time series and the teams split two games a year ago. Kent State has won four of the past five contests.
• Kent State shut down Bowling Green a year ago at the MAC Center, winning a 63-49 contest, but the Falcons upended the Golden Flashes in Anderson Arena 89-83 late in the season. Kent State entered that contest ranked No. 23 in the country.
• Bowling Green enters the game as one of three MAC East teams with a 1-0 conference record, while Kent State is one of three East teams at 0-1. Kent State went 13-3 in the MAC a year ago, won the conference tournament, and represented the league in the NCAA Tournament. But the Golden Flashes have already lost one more game this year than they did a year ago and are trying to rebuild after dominating the conference recently.
THE OPENING TIP (STORYLINES)
• Bowling Green is still trying to find ways to win away from Anderson Arena, opening the season with six straight road losses despite leading at the half in three of those games. Kent State is 5-2 at home this year, losing contests to St. Mary's and Western Carolina (in overtime).
• The Falcons have won 12 consecutive MAC openers dating back to the 1996-97 season but have started 2-0 just four times in the previous 11 seasons and have not done that since 2004-05.
• Chris Knight will look to continue his inspired play from the past few weeks. He is averaging 12.2 points and 7.0 rebounds per contest over the past five games, shooting 49 percent from the field and 81 percent from the free-throw line during that stretch, making both of his three-point attempts.
SCOUTING KENT STATE
• Kent State has lost two straight games to fall to 7-8 in the season, including a MAC-opening road loss to Ohio 71-65. The Golden Flashes have won three straight at home and have won by an average of 17.3 points per game in the MAC Center.
• Transfer Tyree Evans was featured in a recent article on ESPN.com and is averaging 17.3 points since becoming active for the past six games. He is shooting 46 percent from three-point range and has attempted 48 in six games. Al Fisher is averaging 15.3 points and Chris Singletary is scoring 14.3 per contest. Brandon Parks is tough to stop when he gets the ball inside as he is shooting 56 percent from the field. Although most of the team struggles when they get to the free-throw line, Fisher shoots 82 percent from the stripe.
• Kent State is the highest scoring team in the MAC, averaging 71.3 points per game and shoot a MAC-best 44.6 percent from the field. However, the Golden Flashes do struggle from the free-throw line (making just 59.7 percent) and do not rebound particularly well (-0.8 boards per game).
NATIONAL FOLLOWING
• Saturday's home game against Akron has been moved to an 8:00 p.m. start. The game will be televised nationally on ESPNU.
GOOD KNIGHT
Chris Knight was named MAC East Player of the Week Monday for the second time in three weeks. Knight scored 17 first half points, and finished with 22 for the game, as Bowling Green opened up an early lead and held on for an 86-82 win over Buffalo in the team's MAC opener. Knight was also named MAC East Player of the Week Dec. 29 after averaging 14.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game in leading the Falcons to a pair of wins. He is the only BGSU player to be named conference player of the week this year and it is the third time in his career he has received the award. Knight received the honor a year ago after being named MVP of the Peggy Cronin Classic in Cincinnati.
TRACKING FALCON MILESTONES
A number of BGSU players are closing in on career milestones or have recently reached them:
• Darryl Clements needs two points to reach 500 for his career. He attempted his 100th career free-throw against Buffalo, qualifying him for BGSU's career leaderboard in free-throw percentage. With his 80.2 percentage rate, he ranks 10th in school history at the charity stripe.
• Joe Jakubowski picked up the 150th assist in his career against Buffalo. He needs 20 more points for 400.
• Matt Karaffa picked up the first points of his career on a pair of made free-throws against Eastern Illinois. He also had the first rebound of his career against Towson.
• Chris Knight needs 13 points for 400 in his career.
• Erik Marschall needs 15 points for 500 in his career.
• With nine points against Eastern Illinois, Nate Miller went over 800 for his career (now at 843). He needs to average 9.8 points the rest of the way to become the 37th player in program history to score 1,000 by the end of the regular season. He went over the 400 rebound mark and the 100 steal plateau against Detroit and had four assists against Central Arkansas to go over 150.
• Brian Moten needs three made three-pointers to move into the top 10 in program history and four to become just the 10th Falcon to make 100 for a career. With five rebounds against Buffalo, he reached 150 for his career.
• Otis Polk blocked two shots against Duquesne to become just the fifth player in program history to reach 100 in a career. He had seven rebounds against Eastern Illinois to go over 250 for his career.
BLOCK PARTY, HOSTED BY OTIS
Junior Otis Polk blocked two shots against Duquesne to become just the fifth player in program history with 100 career blocked shots and currently has 102. He ranks first in the MAC in blocked shots this year and is just 15 behind all-time leader Tom Hall, with 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.
KNIGHT TIME
Sophomore forward Chris Knight has begun to show signs of the potential he flashed as a freshman in 2007-08. After missing the first three games of the 2008-09 season, Knight scored just 15 points over the next six games, averaging 2.5 points and 2.8 rebounds per game. But in the last five contests, he has averaged 12.2 points and 7.0 rebounds, posting the only Falcon double-double of the season with 16 points and 10 rebounds against Eastern Illinois. He grabbed 14 rebounds against Fordham, five on the offensive glass, and scored 17 first-half points in BGSU's MAC opener against Buffalo, finishing with 22 points on the afternoon.
DEFENSE WINS
• Bowling Green has bucked down defensively in 2008-09, holding 12-of-14 opponents to less than 45 percent shooting, allowing less than 70 points ten times. It is a critical stat because the Falcons are just 2-9 under head coach Louis Orr when an opponent shoots 45 percent or better. BG leads the MAC in field goal percentage defense and blocked shots, ranking in the top four in the conference in scoring defense and three-point field goal percentage defense.
• Bowling Green is on pace to post a historically significant season defensively. The Falcons' 63.5 points per game allowed is the best average since the 1962-63 team allowed 62.3 points per game. As well, the team's .386 field goal percentage allowed is the best total since the same team allowed opponents to shoot .375 for the year.
• Bowling Green's defensive prowess has not been more apparent than in the Falcons' win over Detroit. The Titans scored just 38 points, the lowest point total for a BGSU opponent since an 87-37 Bowling Green win over Western Ontario on Feb. 1, 1964. As well, the Titans shot just 22.7 percent from the field and had just two assists. Both of those stats were the lowest BG opponent totals since game-by-game boxscores have been archived (1987-88 season).
LEADERS OF THE MAC
The Falcons lead the MAC in five team stats, posting the top field-goal percent defensive unit in the conference. The team also leads the MAC in blocked shots, assists, assist/turnover ratio and is tied for the lead in scoring margin. On top of that, BGSU leads the conference in two individual categories. Point guard Joe Jakubowski has a MAC-leading 4.4 assists per game and center Otis Polk leads the conference with 1.5 blocked shots per game.
MAKING THINGS INTERESTING
Bowling Green has played a number of games this year that have been decided in the final possessions. The most exciting of those games was a 77-76 overtime win against Georgia State in the season opener. Darryl Clements and Brian Moten made three-pointers in the final 15 seconds of regulation to force overtime and Joe Jakubowski knocked down a 25-foot three-pointer as the buzzer sounded in the extra session for the win. Against Ohio State, Bowling Green led with six minutes to play but the Buckeyes scored eight straight late to come away with a four-point victory. In a 57-54 loss to Savannah State, BGSU led until the final 1:17 of the contest and missed on two attempts to tie the game in the final 60 seconds. Likewise, in the Falcons' 67-65 loss to Central Arkansas, Bowling Green led until the final 1:19 and lost on a tip-in with just 0.2 seconds to play. BG beat Fordham in Anderson Arena 65-59 by getting a Nate Miller jumper with 48 seconds to play and a pair of Moten free-throws with nine seconds left to ice the contest. In the team's MAC opener, Jakubowski and Clements went 3-for-4 from the free-throw line in the final 11 seconds as the Falcons beat Buffalo 86-82.
WE MUST PROTECT THIS HOUSE (THAT ROARS)
Anderson Arena has always been a difficult place for opponents and the Falcons are 6-0 at home in 2008-09, beating teams by an average of 16.5 points per game. BG is off to its best start at home since the 2001-02 team opened the year with seven consecutive wins in "The House That Roars" and the Falcons are 443-176 (.716) all-time in Anderson Arena and 157-50 (.758) in the past 16 years.
WINNING EARLY
Bowling Green had six wins by the team the calendar turned to 2009. Since the 2002-03 season, the Falcons have won more games than that before the turn of the new year just once. The 2006-07 team had nine wins when Jan. 1 struck and last year's team had just five wins by that time.
HITTIN' THE BOOKS
Sophomore point guard Joe Jakubowski was named the Mid-American Conference's Male Scholar Athlete of the Week Dec. 18. He had 13 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in the team's 58-38 win over Detroit and has maintained a 3.56 grade point average entering the fall semester. The MAC Scholar Athlete of the Week is presented to a male and female student-athlete who has a cumulative gpa of 3.0 or better and performed well during the previous week's competition.
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 season's opening 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.
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 843 points in his BG career.
SURVEY SAYS
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.
CAN IT GET ANY TOUGHER?
Although Bowling Green went 7-6 in its first 13 non-conference games, the opponents that the Falcons faced will make them stronger once MAC play begins. BGSU's six losses have come against teams with a combined record of 63-25. Minnesota has just one loss this year, while Illinois State has two and Ohio State three. Minnesota is ranked No. 18 in the AP Top 25 and No. 17 in the ESPN/USA Today poll, while Ohio State and Illinois State are each receiving votes in the ESPN/USA Today poll. Illinois State, in fact, supplanted Gonzaga as the top team in the Mid-Major Top 25 poll.
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.
MARKED IMPROVEMENT IN THE MAC
Head coach Louis Orr and the Falcons posted a 7-9 MAC record in 2007-08, more than doubling the previous year's conference win total. That win total was four more than the prior season (3-13 in 2006-07). Only Bill Fitch (1967-68) and Jim Larranaga (1986-87) had a greater improvement in their initial season at BGSU. No coach in program history has shown improvement in the MAC in each of their first two seasons.
CATCH THE FALCONS
• Saturday's men's basketball game at home against Akron has been moved to an 8:00 p.m. start time so that the game can be broadcast nationally on ESPNU.
• Bowling Green's men's basketball games can be listened to through the Falcon Sports Radio Network with Todd Walker, the voice of the Falcons, handling the play-by-play duties. Former Bowling Green basketball player Kirk Cowan does the color commentary at all BGSU home games as well. All but five games can be heard on WFRO 99.1 FM and the other five can be heard on WOHF 92.1 FM (Jan. 14 at Kent State, Jan. 28 vs. Ball State, Feb. 4 vs. Western Michigan, Feb. 11 at Toledo, and Feb. 18 at Buffalo). As well, all games can be heard on WCSM 1350 AM/96.7 FM in Celina, WONW 1280 AM in Defiance, and WCWA 1230 AM in Toledo.
• BGSU men's basketball coach Louis Orr appears on the Falcons' Nest Coaches Show on select Monday evenings, hosted by Todd Walker. The show runs from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m., and is scheduled for live broadcast from Fricker's in Bowling Green (1720 E. Wooster Street).
• All game broadcasts and the Falcons Nest Coaches Show can also be heard via live stream on the official site of Falcon athletics, www.BGSUfalcons.com. Shortly after broadcasts are complete, an archived stream is available to listen to as well.
• 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 season.
• 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 www.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.
