Falcons Host Buffalo In MAC Home Opener Thursday

Complete Game Notes (.pdf)

FOUR THINGS TO KNOW
• Bowling Green and Buffalo shared identical 11-5 records in MAC play a year ago but the Falcons earned the No. 1 seed for the MAC Tournament and a bid to the NIT by virtue of the team's season sweep over Buffalo.
• While a 26-point loss to open league play doesn't bode well for any team trying to win a conference, Bowling Green has some history on its side. The Falcons started 1-3 a year ago before rebounding to win the league. The 1996-97 team that shared league honors also opened conference play with a loss.
• While Bowling Green has won three straight at home and is 4-1 on the year in Anderson Arena, Buffalo has excelled on the road. The Bulls are 4-1 in true road games, only losing to Purdue, a team ranked in the top ten in the country.
• It is possible that the Falcon's free-throw woes are behind them. Through 11 games, Bowling Green was one of the worst free-throw shooting teams in the country (ranking 329th out of 334) but the Falcons have made 32-of-38 (84.2 percent) in the last two games. In fact, the team's 14-of-17 (82.4 percent) performance against Akron was the second-best outing of any team in MAC play so far.

THE SERIES
Bowling Green is 14-5 all-time against Buffalo. The Falcons' .737 winning percentage is the team's best against any current MAC school and the second-best mark against any NCAA Division I team is has played at least 10 times (BGSU has an .800 winning percentage against Youngstown State). A year ago, Bowling Green set a season-high by scoring 86 points in an 86-82 win in Anderson Arena and then followed that up with a 59-48 win in Buffalo. Those games were critical as BGSU and Buffalo finished with identical MAC records of 11-5 but the Falcons earned the No. 1 seed for the MAC Tournament and the NIT bid by sweeping the season series. Bowling Green has won three in a row over Buffalo in the House That Roars since the Bulls posted a 76-73 win on Jan. 24, 2006, which also happens to be the only Buffalo win at Bowling Green in the series.

SCOUTING THE BUFFALO BULLS
Buffalo enters the game with Bowling Green at 8-4 on the season and 1-0 in Mid-American Conference play, picking up a 73-55 home win over Miami Saturday. The Bulls are the highest scoring team in the MAC, averaging 73.8 points per game and are led by 6-foot-2 senior guard Rodney Pierce. Pierce ranks second in the MAC at 18.7 points per game and is shooting 39 percent from three-point range. Senior wing Calvin Betts has been an excellent second option, averaging 12.0 points and ranking second in the MAC with 8.6 rebounds per game despite standing just 6-4. Another senior, John Boyer, ranks second in the MAC in assists with 5.4 per game and his assist/turnover ratio of 2.60 is best in the league. Although the team is led by its guards, Buffalo also rebounds extremely well, averaging 4.6 rebounds per contest more than opponents.

THE COACHES
Bowling Green Head Coach Louis Orr has just about done it all. As a player at Syracuse, he made four NCAA Tournament appearances and spent eight years in the NBA. As a coach, he was named Big East Coach of the Year at Seton Hall and was named Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year after guiding the Falcons to the MAC regular season crown in 2008-09. He has a career record of 139-117 in his ninth season and 39-37 in his first three years at Bowling Green. Buffalo Head Coach Reggie Witherspoon is in his 11th season at the helm and has a record of 134-175 during that time and 178-198 in 13 total seasons as a head coach. Witherspoon's overall record is not entirely indicative of the success he has had at Buffalo as his first four teams went a combined 24-85 but he has led the program to four 17-win seasons since that time.

THE CHARITY STRIPE
Through the first 11 games of the season, Bowling Green was one of the worst free-throw shooting teams in the country, ranking 329th out of 334 Division I teams at 56.6 percent. But in the last two contests, the Falcons have found a rhythm at the charity stripe, making 32-of-38 (84.2 percent). In fact, the team's 14-of-17 (82.4 percent) performance Saturday at Akron was the second-best performance of any MAC team in league play. Marc Larson has made all six of his attempts in the past two games, as has Dee Brown (5-for-5), Joe Jakubowski (4-for-4) and Jordon Crawford (4-for-4). Bowling Green has increased its shooting from the free-throw line to 61.1 percent on the season.

BLOCK PARTY, HOSTED BY OTIS
Senior Otis Polk started the 2009-10 campaign by blocking a shot against Wayne State, a familiar sight for Bowling Green fans. He now has 13 blocked shots this year and is already the school's all-time blocked shot leader with 134, surpassing Tom Hall's mark of 117 from 1989-92. With every shot he blocks, he'll be setting a new standard for current and future Falcons to aim for. Both Marc Larson and Erik Marschall are not to be forgotten inside either. Larson has 73 career blocks, including two against St. Louis, and Marschall picked up his 50th career block with two against Savannah State and now has 54. Starting forward Scott Thomas has become a factor in this area as well, posting three consecutive multi-block games at one point including three against Florida International.

"O" IS FOR OTIS AND OFFENSE
Otis Polk reached double figures in scoring just 11 times in his first three years at Bowling Green, but Polk has scored at least 10 points in eight of the team's first 13 games this year, including a pair of double-doubles. In the team's win over Towson, he posted 17 points and a career-high 16 rebounds. Earlier in the year, he picked up his second career double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds against Milwaukee. He has just missed double-doubles on three other occassions and is averaging 10.4 points per game, a large increase over his average of 6.1 points a year ago. Over the last 10 games, he is averaging just shy of a double-double with 10.6 points and 9.7 rebounds.

SENIOR LEADERSHIP
Bowling Green's three senior post players -- Otis Polk, Erik Marschall, and Marc Larson -- have all stepped up their games and produced at a higher level than the trio did a year ago. Those three are combining for 23.7 points and 18.2 rebounds per game, a much higher total than last year's 14.6 points and 12.0 rebounds.

OTIS ADDS THE BOARDS
Otis Polk has been dominant on the boards this year, averaging 8.4 rebounds per game (third in the MAC) and has been especially strong on the offensive glass, leading the Mid-American Conference with 4.1 offensive boards per game. He had a career-high 16 rebounds in the team's win over Towson and has grabbed at least seven rebounds in ten straight games, averaging 9.7 per contest during that stretch.

CONSISTENT LINEUP
Through the first 10 games of the year, Bowling Green Head Coach Louis Orr started the same lineup of Joe Jakubowski, Dee Brown, Scott Thomas, Marc Larson, and Otis Polk. In the past three games, Marschall has been inserted into the lineup for Larson and both have responded. Marschall had a career-high 10 rebounds at Towson and is averaging 7.0 points and 7.3 rebounds per contest as a starter. Larson posted eight points and a career-best nine rebounds against St. Louis in 26 minutes off the bench. He is also a perfect 6-for-6 from the free-throw line since coming off the bench.

RIDING THE PINE
In 2008-09, Bowling Green's depth was a strength early in the season until injuries forced the Falcons into a shorter rotation. In 2009-10, BGSU's bench has been a telling factor in how successful the Falcons are. In the team's seven wins, the bench has outscored the opponent's bench 112-88 but in the six losses has been outscored 181-94.

FEED THE POST
Head Coach Louis Orr's philosophy is to play an inside-out game and the Falcons have scored at least 20 points in the paint in 11-of-13 games, peaking with 50 against Towson. In that contest, the Falcons dominated the paint 50-21 and the team has outscored eight of its last 10 opponents inside overall.

DIRECTING THE OFFENSE
Junior Joe Jakubowski and freshman Jordon Crawford have done an excellent job of running an efficient offense so far in the 2009-10 season. Jakubowski ranks second in the MAC with a 2.10 assist/turnover ratio, while Crawford's 1.60 ratio would be fifth in the league if he had enough assists to qualify for the top 10.

SOPHOMORE SENSATIONS
Scott Thomas and Dee Brown had somewhat up-and-down freshman campaigns in 2008-09, but both players have taken on a bigger role on the team in 2009-10. Thomas and Brown have both started every game this year and rank second and third on the team in minutes played. Brown scored a career-high 20 points against Florida International and was then named MAC East Division Player of the Week after guiding the team to wins over Savannah State and Fordham. He is second on the team at 10.0 points per game and is 15-of-31 on three-pointers, leading the MAC at 48.4 percent. Thomas is third on the team at 9.2 points per game and is averaging 5.6 points and 2.8 assists, ranking second on the team with 13 steals and adding eight blocks.

DEE-LIGHTFUL
Sophomore guard Dee Brown has risen to the occasion since posting his first career double-digit scoring game against Milwaukee. Since that time, Brown has scored in double figures in 7-of-10 games and was named Mid-American Conference East Division Player of the Week on Dec. 7 after averaging 10.0 points and 5.5 rebounds per game, while shooting 56 percent from the field, in wins over Savannah State and Fordham. He has carried the team offensively during critical stretches of key non-conference wins against Florida International, Fordham and Canisius. He leads the MAC in three-point shooting at 48.4 percent and is shooting 49 percent from the field over the past seven games as he continues to find his role in the offense.

YOUR HALFTIME ENTERTAINMENT -- THE FAT LADY
So far in 2009-10, Bowling Green has had little reason to play the final 20 minutes of games. The team leading at the break in each of BGSU's 13 games has gone on to win the contest.

GETTING TO THE CHARITY STRIPE
Through the first three games of the season, Bowling Green struggled to get to the free-throw line and that culminated with just two free-throw attempts at Iowa. During that stretch, the Falcons attempted just 9.0 free-throws per game, 28 less than their opponents. However, over the past ten games, Bowling Green has been to the line an average of 20.7 times (207 total), 21 more than opponents.

WE MUST PROTECT THIS HOUSE (THAT ROARS)
Anderson Arena has always been a difficult place for opponents and the Falcons are 4-1 in 2009-10. The Falcons are 451-181 (.714) all-time in Anderson Arena and 165-55 (.750) in the past 17 years. BGSU's .800 winning percentage at home this year is the best since the 2004-05 team went 12-3 (also an .800 winning percentage).

DEFENSE WINS
Bowling Green has held opponents below 44 percent shooting in all seven of its victories, a trend for success that has been the norm under Head Coach Louis Orr. A year ago, BGSU held 26-of-33 opponents below 45 percent shooting and the Falcons are just 3-16 under Orr when an opponent reaches that 45 percent threshold, as Xavier, Iowa, Detroit, and Temple has. Opponents shot just 39.3 percent in 2008-09 which was the lowest total since the 1963-64 season. That team also held opponents to just 61.2 points per game, the lowest total since the 1949-50 season. In the Falcons' last nine games, of which BGSU is 6-3, opponents are shooting just 39.4 percent from the field and scoring only 59.9 points per contest.

BASKETBALL U.
Bowling Green fans have the opportunity to see the best basketball in the Mid-American Conference night in and night out. The 2009-10 men's and women's teams are a combined 19-10 overall and 2-1 in MAC play, looking to build on last year's combined marks of 48-19 and 26-6 in conference play, easily the best in the MAC in both. Bowling Green was the No. 1 seed for both the men's and women's tournament, the first time that has occurred in the MAC since Kent State was the top seed for both tournaments in 2002. It also marks the first time both the Bowling Green men's and women's teams qualified for postseason play since 1990. Only Eastern Michigan (20-8) has a better overall combined record this year than BGSU and only Kent State (3-0) has a better combined MAC record.

ROAD WARRIORS
A year ago, the Bowling Green basketball team used a road warrior mentality to take the Mid-American Conference regular season championship, winning six consecutive road games during one stretch of league play. This year, the Falcons have opened the season by going 3-5 on the road, including 3-2 on the team's five-game non-conference road stretch. Last year, the six-game road conference winning streak was the longest in program history. It was also the longest MAC road winning streak since the 2001-02 Kent State team won seven consecutive MAC road contests. Despite that success, Bowling Green did not win a non-conference road game a year ago and snapped a nine-game losing streak in those contests with a 67-46 win over Fordham earlier this year.

GIANT KILLERS
Bowling Green tends to have success when a team carries a top 25 ranking into a game at Anderson Arena. The Falcons have won four consecutive home games against nationally ranked opponents, most recently an 89-83 win over No. 23 Kent State on March 1, 2008. BGSU defeated fifth-ranked Michigan State (all rankings according to Associated Press) in December of 1990, topped No. 23 Eastern Michigan on Valentine's Day, 1996, and defeated No. 25 Miami in February of 1999. The Brown and Orange's last home loss to a top 25 opponent came more than three decades ago to No. 16 Marquette on Dec. 6, 1978. Since the Associated Press began conducting a poll on Jan. 20, 1949, the Falcons have a record of 22-48 against nationally-ranked foes. BGSU is now 13-9 all-time in home games vs. AP Top 25 opponents, including a 7-5 mark since Anderson Arena opened prior to the 1960-61 season. The Falcons' last road win against a team ranked in the top 25 came when the team beat No. 25 Michigan State on Dec. 18, 1989 by a score of 81-79.

TO BE THE MAN, YOU'VE GOTTA BEAT THE MAN
In back-to-back games, Bowling Green beat head coaches with more than 450 career wins. In wins over Towson and St. Louis, the Falcons defeated coaching legends Pat Kennedy and Rick Majerus. Kennedy has won more than 450 games leading teams at Iona, Florida State, DePaul, Montana, and Towson, while Majerus has reached that mark at Marquette, Ball State, Utah, and St. Louis.

DISSECTING THE SCHEDULE
Bowling Green's only remaining non-conference game will be a home game in the ESPNU BracketBusters series. Overall, the 13 game non-conference slate is added to the 16 game MAC schedule for 29 total games, one less than a year ago. Eight of the team's 28 games against known opponents will take place against a team that competed in the postseason a year ago. Xavier was a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament, Temple was a No. 11 seed and was ranked No. 21 in the country at the time of the contest, and Akron, who the Falcons play twice, was a No. 13 seed. Bowling Green will also play Buffalo twice and the Bulls competed in the College Basketball Invitational. Finally, Kent State played in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament and will face the Falcons twice in MAC play.

FALCONS ADD TWO IN EARLY SIGNING PERIOD
The Bowling Green coaching staff signed two prep players during the fall early signing period this year, adding 6-foot-6, 200 pound win Craig Sealey and 6-10, 230 pound forward/center Cameron Black. Sealey plays at Brookhaven High School in Columbus, Ohio and is described as an explosive wing who runs the floor well, is a slasher, and strong offensive rebounder. Black plays at Kent Roosevelt High School in Kent, Ohio who is a presence on the defensive end and has a high basketball IQ.

PICKED FIFTH
Despite winning the Mid-American Conference regular season championship a year ago, the MAC News Media Panel picked the Falcons to finish finish in the East Division in 2009-10. Bowling Green had 54 total points, including one first-place vote, to finish in front of Ohio. Defending MAC Tournament champion Akron was selected to win the East, followed by Kent State, Buffalo, and Miami (Ohio). Central Michigan was picked to win the West, followed by Northern Illinois, Eastern Michigan, Ball State, Western Michigan, and Toledo. The Falcons also did not have a player selected to the preseason East Division All-MAC team.

A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING
Six players saw their first action in a Bowling Green uniform against Wayne State, including five who played their first collegiate game. Darion Goins scored seven points in his BGSU debut after playing two seasons at San Jose State. Jordon Crawford, Luke Kraus, James Erger, A'uston Calhoun, and Danny McElroy all played in their first collegiate game. Crawford, Kraus, and McElroy scored their first collegiate points against Wayne State, while Calhoun did the same against Xavier and Erger knocked down a three-pointer for his first career points against Fordham. Also, sophomores Scott Thomas and Dee Brown each got the call to start the first two games for the first time since coming off the bench for the entire 2008-09 season.

COACHING PEDIGREE
Bowling Green State University men's basketball coach Louis Orr was named the 2008-09 Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year by vote of the MAC News Media Association. It is the second time Orr has received a conference Coach of the Year award. He was named the Big East Coach of the Year following the 2002-03 season after guiding Seton Hall to the NIT. In the offseason, Orr signed a contract extension with Bowling Green which lasts through the 2013-14 season.

RIGHT HAND MAN
While Head Coach Louis Orr has a long history of success, assistant coach LaMonta Stone is also recognized as one of the best in the country. Over the summer, HoopScoop.com named Stone the fourth-best mid-major assistant coach in the country, while College Insider named him the 15th best mid-major assistant coach in the nation.

QUICK STARTS
Bowling Green's 67-45 win over Wayne State to open the season was the team's 18th consecutive home-opening victory, moving the team to 83-12 all-time in home openers, including a mark of 45-5 in Anderson Arena. In season openers, the team is now 69-26 all-time and has won two in a row.

IT WILL STILL ROAR
On Sept. 3, Bowling Green State University broke ground on the Stroh Center, the new home of Bowling Green men's and women's basketball and volleyball. Anderson Arena, "The House That Roars", will continue to host the Falcons through the end of the 2010-11 season. The Stroh Center will seat approximately 4,700 fans and is located near Doyt Perry Stadium. While Anderson Arena was named after Harold "Andy" Anderson, a long time BGSU athletics director and men's basketball coach who is also a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, the Stroh Center will continue to honor him. The club area in the new facility has been named the Anderson Club.

AROUND THE DIAL
Bowling Green will be on regional and national television a number of times this year. All BGSU home games not being broadcast nationally appear locally on BCSN on the Buckeye Cable Network. The Feb. 27 home game against Akron will be broadcast on Fox Sports Net as part of a televised doubleheader with the BGSU women's basketball game that day.

CATCH THE FALCONS
• 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. Games can be heard on the flagship station for BGSU athletics, WFRO 99.1 FM. Games can also be heard on WIMA 1150 AM in Lima, WONW 1280 AM in Defiance, and in Cleveland on both WHKW 1220 AM and WHK 1420 AM.
• All game broadcasts and the Falcons Nest Coaches Show can 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.
• Live statistics for all BGSU home men's basketball games are available on the web, allowing fans to view in-game stats as they occur, and may be accessed by going to www.BGSUFalcons.com. Falcon fans can utilize live stats for home events in numerous BGSU sports, including football, men's and women's basketball, hockey, men's and women's soccer, volleyball, baseball, softball, and gymnastics.

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