Falcons Open MAC Play Saturday At Akron

Complete Game Notes (.pdf)
Coach Orr Weekly Audio
Bowling Green Season Stats
Akron Season Stats

FOUR THINGS TO KNOW
• Bowling Green and Akron meet in an interesting Mid-American Conference opening day contest. The Falcons are the defending MAC regular season champions and Akron is the defending MAC Tournament champion. Akron eliminated the Falcons from the MAC Tournament last year and was picked as the preseason favorite to win the league this year.
• Bowling Green enters league play following its best win of the season, a 59-50 victory over a St. Louis squad that entered the game at 9-4.
• The Falcons are 6-2 in their last eight games and have been dominating the paint lately. BGSU scored 50 points in the paint in the win over Towson and dominated the interior in the win over St. Louis.
• Bowling Green is ranked 329th out of 334 NCAA Division I teams in free-throw shooting but the Falcons made a season-best 18-of-21 in Saturday's win over St. Louis.

THE SERIES
Bowling Green is 24-19 all-time against Akron, losing 2-of-3 a year ago. However, the Falcons did pick up a 50-46 win at Rhodes Arena last year to snap a three-game losing streak in the JAR. Akron beat Bowling Green 63-55 in the MAC Tournament semifinals as the Falcons went on to play in the NIT and the Zips went on to win the MAC Tournament and face Gonzaga in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

SCOUTING THE AKRON ZIPS
Akron enters Mid-American Conference play following a 10-4 non-conference record boasting a solid defense and a balanced offensive attack. The Zips rank in the top two in the conference in scoring defense, field goal percentage defense, rebounding margin, and blocked shots. Seven players are averaging at least 7.0 points per game and none are averaging better than 10.4. Coach Keith Dambrot has played nine players at least 14.0 minutes per game this year and all of those players have started at least three games. Brett McKnight leads the team in scoring at 10.4 points and averages 5.4 rebounds. Darryl Roberts is the only player to have started all 14 games and he averages 8.2 points while shooting 47 percent from the field and 42 percent from three-point range. Highly-touted freshman Zeke Marshall is scoring 5.4 points but leads the MAC with 26 blocked shots.

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 139-116 in his ninth season and 39-36 in his first three years at Bowling Green. Akron Head Coach Keith Dambrot is 125-54 in his sixth season at Akron and 233-124 in his career with stints at Tiffin, Ashland, and Central Michigan. Dambrot also coached LeBron James as a freshman and sophomore at Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary High School before getting the job at Akron.

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 ten blocked shots this year and is already the school's all-time blocked shot leader with 132, 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.

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

"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 12 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 10.6 points per game, a large increase over his average of 6.1 points a year ago. Over the last nine games, he is averaging a double-double at 10.8 points and 10.0 rebounds.

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 3-4 on the road, including 3-2 on the team's just-concluded five-game 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.

OTIS ADDS THE BOARDS
Otis Polk has been dominant on the boards this year, averaging 8.5 rebounds per game and has been especially strong on the offensive glass, leading the Mid-American Conference with 4.2 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 nine straight games.

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 two 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 8.5 points and 8.5 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.

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 five losses has been outscored 149-84.

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 11-of-12 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 nine opponents inside overall.

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 first 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 leading the team at 10.6 points per game and is 14-of-29 on three-pointers, leading the MAC at 48.3 percent. Thomas is third on the team at 9.7 points per game and is averaging 5.8 points and 2.8 assists, ranking second on the team with 12 steals and adding eight blocks.

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 leads the MAC and ranks 35th in the country with a 2.56 assist/turnover ratio, while Crawford's 1.64 ratio would be fifth in the league if he had enough assists to qualify for the top 10.

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-9 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 48.3 percent and is shooting 50 percent from the field over the past five games as he continues to find his role in the offense.

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 nine games, Bowling Green has been to the line an average of 21.1 times (190 total), 22 more than opponents.

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 12 games has gone on to win the contest.

THE DECADE THAT WAS
With the 2000's now complete, Bowling Green finished the decade with a record of 158-148. The Falcons went 97-41 at home, 49-89 on the road, and 12-18 in neutral site contests. It was the second consecutive decade in which the program won exactly 158 games.

BOWLING GREEN BY THE DECADE
Decade Record MAC
1910's 13-24
1920's 75-81
1930's 89-76
1940's 208-68
1950's 131-115 38-37
1960's 130-113 66-39
1970's 122-140 62-70
1980's 153-132 91-76
1990's 158-121 96-71
2000's 158-148 88-86
2010's 1-0

PICK YOUR POISON
While nobody on the team is averaging more than 10.6 points per game, six different players are averaging at least 6.0 points per game, the most since the 2005-06 team also had six players average that many. All five starters (Dee Brown, Scott Thomas, Otis Polk, Joe Jakubowski, and Erik Marschall) along with Marc Larson off the bench are averaging 6.3 points or more.

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 eight games, of which BGSU is 6-2, opponents are shooting just 38.9 percent from the field and scoring only 58.5 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 teams are a combined 17-9 and will look 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 (17-7) has a better combined record this year than BGSU.

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.

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 is currently ranked No. 21 in the country, 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.

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.

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.

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 and softball.

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