Falcons Swoop In To Face Michigan On Big Ten Network

Complete Game Notes (.pdf)

Bowling Green, Ohio - Bowling Green will head on the road Thursday to play at Michigan at 7 p.m. on the Big Ten Network. The Falcons are looking for their first win over a Big Ten squad since defeating Michigan 65-59 on Nov. 28, 2001. It has been 14 years since Bowling Green defeated a Big Ten team on their home floor, dating back to an 86-83 victory over Purdue onear Nov. 30, 1996.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
• After struggling offensively in the team's exhibition game and season opener, Bowling Green scored 81 in a win over Ohio Dominican Monday. The Falcons only scored 80+ points in a game twice a year ago and one of those was an overtime contest.
• Head Coach Louis Orr changed his starting lineup, inserting three new players for the Ohio Dominican game. It paid off as the Falcons jumped out to a 10-2 lead and then Bowling Green dominated over the final 25 minutes of the contest.
• Bowling Green had 16 steals in the victory, the most since the team had 16 in a win over Denison on Nov. 11, 2006.
• Freshman Cameron Black is almost averaging a double-double in the first two games of his collegiate career. He is posting 9.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game, while making 9-of-13 shots in the first two contests.

THE SERIES
This will be the 12th meeting between Bowling Green and Michigan dating back to the 1961 season. The Wolverines hold an 8-3 edge in the series and beat the Falcons 74-57 the last time these two teams met, on Dec. 13, 2003. The Falcons last beat Michigan on Nov. 28, 2001, a 65-59 win in Anderson Arena.

SCOUTING THE MICHIGAN WOLVERINES
Michigan is off to a 1-0 start after a dominant 66-35 win over South Carolina Upstate in the team's season opener. The Wolverines got 19 points from freshman guard Tim Hardaway Jr. and sophomore guard Darius Morris added 17 points and four assists. A year ago, Michigan went 15-17 overall and 7-11 in Big Ten play. Head coach John Beilein has a career record of 598-371 and is in his fourth year at Michigan, his seventh stop as a head coach. He is 47-53 at Michigan.

FALCONS WIN 19TH STRAIGHT HOME OPENER 81-55
Bowling Green played its final home opener in Anderson Arena Monday night, dominating Ohio Dominican in an 81-55 victory. The Falcons conclude the Anderson Arena era with a record of 46-5 in home openers. Bowling Green had five players score in double figures and the Falcons had 16 steals, forcing 23 Ohio Dominican turnovers and scoring 30 points off of those miscues. A 29-2 second-half run put the game away after the Panthers hung close for much of the first half. Joe Jakubowski had 12 points, eight assists, three steals and no turnovers, while shooting 5-for-5 from the field and making both of his three-point attempts.

OPENING THE YEAR STRONG
The loss to Howard snapped the Falcons' streak of two consecutive season-opening victories. Despite that fact, Bowling Green is still 69-27 all-time in season openers. Even more impressive is the Falcons' record in home opener. With a victory over Ohio Dominican, the team has won 19 consecutive home-opening tilts and has an all-time mark of 84-12 in home openers, including 46-5 in Anderson Arena.

STARTING A CAREER
By starting each of Bowling Green's first two games, Cameron Black became the first BGSU freshman to start the first two games of his collegiate career since Erik Crawford in 2001-02.

ORR SIGNS TEAMMATES IN EARLY SIGNING PERIOD
Head coach Louis Orr announced that Canton Timken High School teammates Jehvon Clarke and Desmond Rorie signed National Letters of Intent during the early signing period to attend Bowling Green for the 2011-12 season. Clarke is a highly-touted 6-foot-1 point guard who averaged 15.5 points, 5.6 assists, and 3.0 steals per game as a junior. Rorie is a 6-9 post player whose best days are ahead of him. He averaged 3.7 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 3.7 blocked shots per game as a junior.

FALCONS PICKED FIFTH
Bowling Green was picked to finish fifth in the Mid-American Conference East Division in the preseason media poll. The Falcons had 42 points to edge Buffalo (32 points) in the division. Defending MAC Tournament champion Ohio was selected first, followed by Kent State, Akron, and Miami.

MAC Preseason Media Poll
East Division - 1. Ohio (128 points/12 first-place votes), 2. Kent State (114 points/8 first-place votes), 3. Akron (104 points/4 first-place votes), 4. Miami (84 points), 5. Bowling Green (42 points), 6. Buffalo (32 points)
West Division - 1. Ball State (124 points/12 first-place votes), 2. Central Michigan (122 points/8 first-place votes), 3. Eastern Michigan (88 points/2 first-place votes), 4. Western Michigan (68 points), 5. Northern Illinois (64 points/2 first-place votes), 6. Toledo (38 points)
Tournament Champion - Ohio (10), Kent State (6), Central Michigan (4), Ball State (2), Akron (2)

THOMAS NAMED PRESEASON ALL-MAC
Scott Thomas was selected as one of five Preseason All-MAC East Division players by vote of the media. Thomas led BGSU in scoring and steals a year ago, ranking second in rebounds, assists, and blocked shots. He averaged 13.2 points per game on the season but improved that average to 15.4 points in conference games and 16.9 points over the final eight contests.

Preseason All-MAC Teams
East Division - Brett McKnight (Akron), Scott Thomas (Bowling Green), Justin Greene (Kent State), Julian Mavunga (Miami), D.J. Cooper (Ohio)
West Division - Jarrod Jones (Ball State), Trey Zeigler (Central Michigan), Brandon Bowdry (Eastern Michigan), Xavier Silas (Northern Illinois), Flenard Whitfield (Western Michigan)

3-DEE
In his first two seasons at Bowling Green, junior guard Dee Brown has proven to be one of the most accurate three-point shooters in program history. He has a 41.2 percent three-point percentage in his career, fourth-best in school history. In fact, only one player in program history has attempted more than Brown's 114 career long-range shots and made them at a higher percentage. Steve Martenet is the program's record holder by making 56.7 percent of his 67 career attempts. Josh Almanson shot 46.2 percent in 106 career attempts and John Reimold made 42.5 percent of his 536 career three-point attempts.

EXPERIENCE AT THE POINT
Most experts agree that an experienced point guard can play a huge role in a team's success in college basketball. If that's the case, then Bowling Green could be primed for a big season. Point guard Joe Jakubowski enters the 2010-11 season with 85 games started, 10th most in the country.

CONSISTENT LINEUP?
A year ago, Bowling Green Head Coach Louis Orr used just three starting lineups and only seven players picked up a start during the course of the year. This year, Orr has already used different starting combinations in the first two games and eight different players have made at least one start. Only junior Scott Thomas and freshman Cameron Black have started both of the first two games.

THE PRIDE OF FINDLAY, OHIO
Sophomore guard Luke Kraus had a highly decorated prep career at Findlay High School, where he passed Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to become the school's all-time leading scorer. Since Roethlisberger officially changed his hometown to the fictional Corey Rawson, Ohio during the offseason, Kraus is now likely the most famous athlete from Findlay, Ohio.

THE WALK-ONS
Head Coach Louis Orr accepted two walk-ons to his program this year and both are seniors in eligibility. Wiley Roberts is a feel-good story who served as a team manager for the past two years at Bowling Green. Mike Dabney spent the 2006-07 season at NAIA Concordia University in Ann Arbor, Mich., where he posted the third-highest single-season blocked shot total in program history with 56 rejections. Roberts saw his first collegiate action by playing one minute in the team's victory over Ohio Dominican.

NAME DROPPING
BGSU freshman Craig Sealey was a part of two AAU National Championship teams with the All-Ohio Red Team in 2006 and 2007. Sealey's teams included Ohio State freshmen Jared Sullinger, J.D. Weatherspoon, and Aaron Craft, along with Michigan State freshman Adreian Payne.

PAINTIN' THE TOWN
Head Coach Louis Orr's philosophy is always to play an inside-out game, but with a new group of post players, the Falcons may look to attack from the inside in different fashion. A year ago, the team scored at least 20 points in the paint in 27-of-30 games and outscored 23-of-30 opponents in the paint. This year, the Falcons have reached that 20-point threshold in both contests, outscoring their opponents in the paint in both games. Bowling Green had a season-high 36 points in the paint against Ohio Dominican.

WE MUST PROTECT THIS HOUSE (THAT ROARS)
Anderson Arena has always been a difficult place for opponents and the Falcons are 1-0 so far in 2010-11. The Falcons are 457-185 (.712) all-time in Anderson Arena and 171-59 (.743) in the past 18 years.

DEFENSE WINS
Bowling Green held opponents below 45 percent shooting in 13 of its 14 victories (Valparaiso shot 46.4 percent) a year ago, a trend for success that has been the norm under Head Coach Louis Orr. The Falcons are just 4-23 in Head Coach Louis Orr's first three years when an opponent shoots better than 45 percent, including 1-11 a year ago. Howard shot just 39.1 percent and Ohio Dominican was at 40.4 percent in two games this year.

HE'S SMART TOO!
Joe Jakubowski was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District team in voting by the members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Bowling Green was one of only five teams in the country to place multiple players on one of the eight first team all-district teams as Jakubowski and graduate Marc Larson each made the team. Larson went on to be named ESPN The Magazine Second Team Academic All-American.

ALL-ANDERSON TEAM NAMED
In recognition of the final season in Anderson Arena, the Bowling Green Department of Athletics announced the All-Anderson Team -- the 13 best BGSU players to play in the Anderson Arena era. The 13 members of the team represent 19 first team All-MAC selections, four MAC Players of the Year, and six members of the BGSU Athletics Hall of Fame. Eight of the 13 players were selected in the NBA Draft and/or played in the NBA. One of the players, Nate Thurmond, is an NBA Hall of Famer and was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History. The entire team will be honored during Bowling Green's final regular season game in Anderson Arena against Buffalo on either March 4 or 5.

All-Anderson Team
Cornelius Cash, 1972-75
Antonio Daniels, 1993-97
Bob Dwors, 1962-65
David Greer, 1979-83
Colin Irish, 1979-84
Shane Kline-Ruminski, 1991-95
Howard Komives, 1961-64
Keith McLeod, 1998-02
Marcus Newbern, 1978-82
Jim Penix, 1968-70
Walt Piatkowski, 1965-68
Anthony Stacey, 1995-00
Nate Thurmond, 1960-63

IT WILL STILL ROAR
Known as "The House That Roars", Anderson Arena will play host to the Bowling Green men's basketball team for the final year in 2010-11. The team will move into the brand new Stroh Center next year and will open the building by hosting Howard on Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011. In honor of the final season in Anderson Arena, the Athletics Department is holding a year-long celebration titled "Closing The Doors Of The House That Roars". Following is a list of some of the key dates/events of the final year in Anderson Arena and the first year in Stroh Center:

Jan. 29, 2011 - Men's basketball throwback game vs. Eastern Michigan
March 4/5, 2011 - All-Anderson Team recognized vs. Buffalo
March 5, 2011 - The B!G Event; One final celebration of Anderson Arena
Sept. 9, 2011 - Volleyball vs. Michigan State; Stroh Center ribbon-cutting
Nov. 12, 2011 - Men's basketball vs. Howard; First game in Stroh Center
Nov. 17, 2011 - Women's basketball vs. Purdue; First game in Stroh Center
March 17-20, 2012 - NCAA Women's Basketball Tourney in Stroh Center

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