Falcons Begin Month-Long Road Trip At Valpo Saturday

Saturday, December 10

Valparaiso, IN

8:05 pm

Bowling Green State University

Valparaiso

Tickets

December 09, 2011 | Men's Basketball

By: by Jason Knavel, Assistant Athletic Director for Athletic Communications

Bowling Green Falcons (5-3) at Valparaiso Crusaders (6-3)
Dec. 10, 2011 • 8:05 p.m. • Valparaiso, Ind. • Athletics-Recreation Center (5,000)
Radio: Falcon Radio Network • Todd Walker (Play-by-Play)
Television: None
Live Stats: http://www.valpoathletics.com
Online: Stretch Internet (audio) / Horizon League Network (video)
Complete Game Notes (.pdf)
PURCHASE TICKETS

QUICK HITS
* BGSU looks for its first road win Saturday. The Falcons are 0-2 on the road, but 5-1 at home. Valparaiso is 4-0 at home.
* Bowling Green is 8-0 all-time against Valparaiso.
* This contest is a return game from an ESPNU BracketBusters contest at Bowling Green during the 2009-10 season.
* BGSU begins a stretch of five consecutive road games against Valpo. The Falcons will not play a home game for a one month stretch.
* A'uston Calhoun set a school record by going 9-for-9 from the field against Malone Wednesday. Two Bowling Green players had previously gone 8-for-8 in a game.
* Thomas made his 100th career three-pointer against Temple. He needs 41 points and nine steals to become the first player in program history with 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 100 three-pointers and 150 steals in a career.
* BGSU is 5-0 when shooting at least 38 percent from the floor and 0-3 when not reaching that threshold.
* BGSU won a game when an opponent shot at least 50 percent from the floor for the first time under Louis Orr when Austin Peay shot 51 percent.
* The Falcons have had more turnovers than their opponents only one time this season.
* BGSU players set or tied 33 season and career highs in the 87-44 win over Malone Wednesday.
* The win over Malone was the largest margin of victory for the Falcons in 12 years.
* BGSU scored 58 points in the paint against Malone and post players A'uston Calhoun, Cameron Black, and Torian Oglesby went a combined 19-for-20 from the field.

FALCONS BEGIN ROAD TRIP AT VALPARAISO
Bowling Green begins a month-long stretch away from the Stroh Center Saturday as the Falcons play Valparaiso Saturday at 8:05 p.m. BGSU will play five consecutive road games before opening Mid-American Conference play at home on Jan. 7. Although the Falcons are 5-3 on the year, the team is still looking for its first road win. Valparaiso, at 6-3 overall, is unbeaten at home (4-0) and is off to a 1-0 start in Horizon League play, defeating defending national runner-up Butler in overtime.

THE SERIES
Bowling Green is a remarkable 8-0 all-time against Valparaiso, including an 87-70 win two years ago for an ESPNU BracketBusters game. The series began way back in 1945 when the Falcons won 54-51 on Dec. 17 of that year. It was the first of two contests between the programs that season as Bowling Green won a 72-49 result on Jan. 23, 1946 in a game played in Fort Wayne. The 8-0 record represents the most wins for a BGSU team over any opponent without suffering a loss.

SCOUTING VALPARAISO
Under first-year head coach Bryce Drew, Valparaiso has gotten off to a strong 6-3 start, with two of the losses coming against teams ranked in the top 20 in the country when they played. Drew is a legendary Valparaiso player, hitting one of the most recognizable last-second shots in NCAA Tournament history to defeat Ole Miss in the 1998 first round. His father, Homer Drew, was the long time coach of Valparaiso, retiring at the conclusion of the 2010-11 season. Valpo is winning with a tremendous inside game this year, shooting 48 percent from the field and outrebounding opponents by 5.2 per game. The Crusaders, however, are shooting below 30 percent from three-point range. Individually, Ryan Broekhoff has done just about everything for the Crusaders, leading the team in scoring, rebounding, assists, and blocked shots. He already has four double-doubles on the season.

LAST GAME: FALCONS ROLL PAST MALONE 87-44
A'uston Calhoun set a school record by going 9-for-9 from the field and Bowling Green posted its largest win in 12 years, defeating Malone 87-44 Wednesday. Calhoun scored all 20 of his points in the first half, including 10 in a 13-2 run to close the half and give the Falcons a 41-24 halftime lead. Bowling Green held a 58-16 lead in points in the paint as Calhoun, Cameron Black, and Torian Oglesby combined to go 19-for-20 from the field. The Falcons also held a 28-0 advantage in points off of turnovers and scored 27 fast break points. Bowling Green shot 68 percent in the second half and 64 percent for the game.

BRACKETS BUSTED
Bowling Green has competed in the ESPN BracketBusters event in each of the past nine years, going 5-4. While teams are paired up for the BracketBusters game, the two teams must play again within two years in a "return" game. Saturday's game with Valparaiso is one of those games. The Falcons have been quite successful in such contests, posting a 6-1 record overall and 3-1 on the road. Under head coach Louis Orr, the team is 3-0 in return games.

WHERE MY FALCONS AT?
Bowling Green will play away from the Stroh Center for a month, heading on the road for five games in five different states. According to Google Maps, the BGSU men's basketball team will travel a total of 6,442 miles during the road trip, or slightly more than a quarter of the way around the planet.

STAT STUFFER
While Scott Thomas has proven to be the team's most consistent scoring threat this year, he will also go down as one of the most versatile players in program history. A two-time All-MAC honorable mention performer, Thomas was the only player in the conference to rank in the top 10 in both rebounding and assists a year ago. He needs just 41 more points and nine more steals to become the first player in BGSU history to have 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 150 steals, and 100 three-pointers. On top of that, he need 11 assists for 250 in his career.

WHAT CAN BROWN DO FOR YOU?
Senior Dee Brown has always been an integral scorer for the Falcons, but this year he has taken on a new role, serving as the point guard when regular starter Jordon Crawford is getting a breather. In the team's past three wins (over Detroit, Temple and Malone), Brown has 15 assists with just one turnover. He posted a career high eight against Detroit and then followed that up with six when he started at point guard for the first time in his career against Temple. On the year, Brown has a solid 2.3 assist/turnover ratio.

CRAIG'S LIST
Craig Sealey is beginning to fulfill the potential he flashed a year ago as a freshman. In the first two games of the season, he posted consecutive double-digit scoring efforts for the first time in his career. Sealey played a career-high 30 minutes against George Washington and is averaging 7.1 points and 5.4 rebounds per game a year after averaging 2.4 points and 1.1 rebounds. In fact, he has already scored more points and grabbed more rebounds than he did in 2010-11.

CALHOUN GETS INTO THE RECORD BOOK
By going 9-for-9 from the field in Wednesday's win over Malone, A'uston Calhoun etched his name into the record book for making the most shots without a miss in program history. Brent Klassen and Erik Marschall shared the previous record at 8-for-8. With the performance, Calhoun raised his field goal percentage on the year from 37 percent to 44 percent.

SAY WHAT?
Against Malone, Bowling Green ended one of its stranger trends. The Falcons had lost their last five games in which they had shot at least 61.5 percent from the floor for a half. Against Malone, though, Bowling Green shot 67.7 percent in the second half and rolled to an 87-44 win.

IMPROVING EFFICIENCY
While Scott Thomas does just about everything on the floor for the Falcons, the area in which he most needed to improve coming into the 2011-12 season was shooting from three-point range and the free-throw line. A year ago, Thomas shot 29 percent on three-pointers and 59 percent from the charity line. This year, he has made 9-of-23 three-pointers (39.1 percent) and 20-of-25 free-throws (80.0 percent). He ranks ninth in the MAC in three-point percentage.

A NEW HOLIDAY TRADITION
BGSU men's basketball will play on New Year's Day for the second consecutive year as the Falcons play at Texas San Antonio on Jan. 1. The Falcons are 4-1 all-time when breaking in the new year, including last year's 67-61 win at St. Louis. Bowling Green is just one of eight NCAA Division I programs playing on New Year's Day in both 2011 and 2012 (joining Syracuse, DePaul, Marquette, Southern Illinois, Illinois State, Northern Iowa, and Evansville).

THE BIG APOSTROPHE
A'uston Calhoun's junior season began much like his sophomore campaign did, but he began to find his form much quicker than a year ago. Calhoun averaged just 7.0 points and 4.0 rebounds over the first 10 games in 2010-11, shooting 31 percent from the field. But in the last 23 games, he averaged 15.0 points and 6.3 rebounds, while shooting 47 percent from the floor. Through the first two games this year, Calhoun averaged just 2.5 points per game. In the last six games, he is averaging a team-best 13.7 points, while shooting 48.5 percent from the floor.

1,000 POINT SCORERS
In BGSU basketball history, 37 different players have scored 1,000 points in their careers. This year both Scott Thomas and Dee Brown could reach that plateau. Only six times in BGSU history have two players reached 1,000 career points in the same year. Thomas currently has 959 points and Brown has 794.

PARKER/HOLMES SIGN WITH THE FALCONS
Louis Orr announced the signing of Spencer Parker and Richaun Holmes during this year's early signing period. Parker is from West Bloomfield, Mich. and is playing for Fishburne Military School in Waynesboro, Va. this year. He will have four years of eligibility remaining. Holmes is from Lockport, Ill. and is playing this year at Moraine Community College. As a full qualifier out of high school, he will transfer to Bowling Green and be able to play immediately with three years of eligibility remaining.

DOWN LOW
Head coach Louis Orr's philosophy is always to play inside-out and the Falcons have done that well during his tenure. This year, the Falcons have scored at least 20 points in the paint in 7-of-8 games with a season-high 58 against Malone. In fact, the 58 points in the paint represents the most in a game in Orr's tenure. In 2009-10 and 2010-11, the Falcons scored 20 or more points in the paint in 57-of-63 games.

THE STROH CENTER
BGSU played its first regular season game ever in the Stroh Center against Howard. After 51 years in venerable Anderson Arena, the Falcons opened one of the newest facilities in the country. Here are the NCAA Division I institutions opening new facilities this year.

BALANCED PRODUCTION
Bowling Green is getting offensive production from its entire lineup as seven players or more have scored in every game this year. Against Malone, all 14 players who saw court time scored. Against both Austin Peay and Detroit, 10 different Falcons scored. Against George Washington and Western Kentucky, nine different players got into the scoring column.

FOREIGN TOUR
The BGSU men's basketball team got the opportunity to travel to Toronto for a summer foreign tour and play three games. The Falcons went 2-1 on the trip, gaining experience and the opportunity for extra practices.

50 PERCENT PROVIDES BETTER THAN A 50/50 CHANCE
When Bowling Green shoots at least 50 percent from the floor, the Falcons have an excellent chance of winning the game. The Falcons went 8-1 a year ago in such instances and are 31-5 in head coach Louis Orr's four years when make at least half of their shots. This year, Bowling Green shot over 50 percent in wins over Temple and Malone.

THE NEW HOUSE
Anderson Arena provided BGSU with an excellent home court advantage as the Falcons went 466-190 (.710) all-time in The House That Roars. Bowling Green will attempt to build a new home court advantage after going 10-5 in Anderson Arena a year ago. This year, the Falcons are 5-1 (.833) in the Stroh Center.

FALCONS TO PLAY ON REGIONAL/NATIONAL TELEVISION
BGSU will play a minimum of four games on ESPNU or SportsTime Ohio this year. The Falcons played on ESPNU at Georgia on Nov. 13 and will play three games on STO (Jan.7 vs. Ohio, Jan. 28 at Eastern Michigan, Feb. 4 vs. Northern Illinois). Bowling Green will also play on the Big Ten Network Dec. 17 at Michigan State. On top of those contests, there are approximately a dozen other opportunities for STO or ESPN to choose the Falcons for television games.

DEFENSE WINS
Over the course of the past three years, Bowling Green has held its opponent to 45 percent shooting or worse in 28 of the Falcons' 33 wins. A year ago, Bowling Green went just 2-12 when an opponent shot at least 45 percent, posting victories against only Manhattan (48.9 percent shooting) and Ohio (45.8 percent). This year, the Falcons have already equaled that win total and are 2-2 when an opponent shoots over 45 percent. Bowling Green actually won for the first time in Louis Orr's tenure when a team shot 50 percent as Austin Peay scored at a 51 percent clip, but the Falcons won 82-72.

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON?
Head coach Louis Orr was an All-American at Syracuse and he will have the opportunity to help his son, freshman Chauncey Orr, grow into a strong collegiate player. Chauncey was a first team all-state player at Bowling Green High School.

FIRST TEAM ALL-STATE
Bowling Green has brought in an Associated Press Division I First Team All-State player Ohio first team all-state player for three consecutive years. Junior Luke Kraus was named first team all-state at Findlay High School in 2008-09. Redshirt freshman Anthony Henderson earned the honor at Toledo Start High School in 2009-10 and Chauncey Orr was named to the team from Bowling Green High School in 2010-11. BGSU is the only school in the country with three players from the AP Division I First Team All-State teams from the past three years on the roster. Miami (Ohio) and Ohio State each has two.

FALCONS PICKED SIXTH
Bowling Green was picked to finish sixth in the Mid-American Conference East Division in the preseason media poll. Defending MAC champion Kent State was selected to win the East while Western Michigan was selected to win the West.

MAC Preseason Media Poll
East Division - 1. Kent State (132 points/16 first-place votes), 2. Akron (104 points/8 first-place votes), 3. Ohio (94 points), 4. Miami (80 points), 5. Buffalo (62 points), 6. Bowling Green (32 points)
West Division - 1. Western Michigan (128 points/14 first-place votes), 2. Ball State (111 points/9 first-place votes), 3. Central Michigan (92 points/1 first-place vote), 4. Toledo (76 points), 5. Northern Illinois (59 points), 6. Eastern Michigan (38 points)
Tournament Champion - Kent State 12, Akron 6, Ball State 3, Western Michigan 2, Central Michigan 1