Falcons Welcome WMU To House That Roars

Bowling Green Falcons (11-11, 6-2 MAC) vs. Western Michigan Broncos (11-9, 4-3 MAC)
Feb. 5, 2011 • 5:00 p.m. • Bowling Green, Ohio • Anderson Arena (3,500)

Radio: Falcon Radio Network (99.1 FM) • Todd Walker (Play-by-Play)/Kirk Cowan (Color)
Television: None
Live Stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/bgsu/mbball/index.htm
Online: Stretch Internet (audio)/Live Video
Complete Game Notes (.pdf)
Sponsor Appreciation Night/David Greer All-Anderson Team Card Giveaway (First 500 Fans)

The Bowling Green men's basketball team returns home to host Western Michigan Saturday at 5 p.m. in the second game of a women's/men's doubleheader. The Falcons will look to avenge to road losses to Western Michigan a year ago, including a two-point loss that ended the team's season in the MAC Tournament First Round. The Falcons have won six straight home games and are tied for the lead in the Mid-American Conference at 6-2. Since starting the year 2-9, Bowling Green has won nine of 11 to get to .500.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
• Bowling Green has matched its conference win total from a year ago with a 6-2 start in league play. The Falcons went 6-10 in 2009-10 and were the No. 10 seed for the MAC Tournament, dropping a close game on the road at Western Michigan in the opening round.
• Bowling Green is 6-2 in MAC play for the first time since the 2004-05 season. That team ended 18-11 overall and 10-8 in league action. The Falcons have not gone 7-2 to open league action since the 1999-00 team went 22-8 overall and won a MAC East Division crown at 14-4.
• The Falcons have held three consecutive opponents to 40 percent shooting or less, picking up wins over Toledo (40.0 percent), Eastern Michigan (39.2 percent), and Northern Illinois (36.5 percent).
• Scott Thomas has scored in double-figures in eight consecutive games since being held scoreless in a win at St. Louis. He is averaging 15.4 points per game while shooting 50 percent from the field during that stretch. He has had at least one steal in each of those games (and at least two in seven of the contests) and is averaging 7.1 rebounds.

THE SERIES
Bowling Green holds a commanding 66-43 lead in the all-time series with Western Michigan despite two losses by a grand total of three points a year ago. The latter contest came in the MAC Tournament First Round as the Falcons were a No. 10 seed and Western Michigan was the No. 7 seed. Bowling Green posted a 68-61 win the last time the two teams played in Anderson Arena, back during the 2008-09 season, but the Broncos had won the four meetings prior to that in The House That Roars.

SCOUTING THE WESTERN MICHIGAN BRONCOS
At 11-9 overall and 4-3 in the MAC, Western Michigan is within striking distance of the West Division lead. The Broncos have been a strong offensive team, averaging over 70 points per game and shooting 44 percent from the field, while ranking second in the league by outrebounding opponents by 2.3 per game. But WMU is last in the league in defending the three-point shot (36.8 percent against). Much like Bowling Green, the Broncos have a balanced offensive attack with five players averaging at least 8.0 points per game. Demetrius Ward leads the team at 13.4 points per game and is the team's biggest threat from long range, making 39 percent of his three-point attempts. Flenard Whitfield is averaging 12.2 points and shooting 48 percent from the floor.

FALCONS WIN SECOND ROAD OVERTIME CONTEST
Scott Thomas scored a season-high 23 points and A'uston Calhoun had his second double-double in three games with 16 points and 11 rebounds as Bowling Green beat Northern Illinois 73-70 in overtime. The Falcons led by eight points with two minutes left in regulation but a furious Huskie rally forced the extra session. Xavier Silas' three-pointer at the buzzer rimmed out, giving the Falcons their third road conference victory of the year and second in overtime. Dee Brown added 12 points and Danny McElroy had six points, six rebounds, and a career-best three blocked shots.

TRANSFORMING BGSU BASKETBALL
Bill Frack has watched Bowling Green basketball since 1948 and on Jan. 19, 2011, he showed his appreciation to the program by announcing the formation of an endowment that will exceed $10 million to the program. The gift is the largest in University history and the largest to a men's basketball program in MAC history. When realized, the endowment will be used to build the program to an elite non-BCS level through additional funding for buying home games against quality opponents, competitive coaching salaries, recruiting, strength and conditioning, academic support, and marketing, among other things.

PROGRESSION OF A PROGRAM
In the course of the past four years, the Bowling Green men's basketball program has had its share of headline news. Consider:

• On April 4, 2007, Louis Orr, a former Big East Coach of the Year, was named the new head coach of the men's basketball program.
• On March 1, 2008, Kermit and Mary Lu Stroh announced an $8 million donation as a lead gift for a new basketball arena, named the Stroh Center. The $8 million donation was, at that time, the largest gift in University history. The Stroh Center will open for the 2011-12 season.
• On March 9, 2009, Bowling Green beat Ohio 75-41 to win the MAC regular season championship. Orr was later named MAC Coach of the Year.
• On Sept. 30, 2009, Orr announced the hiring of Dennis Hopson as an assistant coach. Along with Orr, BGSU is one of the few programs in the country to have two college first-team All-Americans and NBA players on staff.
• On Jan. 19, 2011, longtime fan Bill Frack annnounced the formation of a $10 million endowment for the men's basketball program. The $10 million gift is the largest in University history and the largest for a men's basketball program in MAC history.

FALCONS AND PENGUINS TO TANGLE FOR BRACKETBUSTERS
For the sixth time in nine years, Bowling Green will face a team from the Horizon League for ESPN's BracketBusters series when the Falcons play at Youngstown State Feb. 19. It is the second time that BGSU has met Youngstown State for the event. Bowling Green is 5-3 all-time in BracketBusters contests and 6-1 in the follow-up return games.

THE BIG APOSTROPHE
A'uston Calhoun has turned up his game lately, scoring 20 or more points four times in the past 12 contests and posting his first two career double-doubles in the last three games. In the first 10 games of the year, he average 7.0 points and 4.0 rebounds, while shooting 31 percent from the field, but as he's become more comfortable in his role, his numbers have gone up dramatically. In the last 12 games, Calhoun is averaging 14.0 points and 6.0 rebounds, while shooting 47 percent from the floor.

THE MCELROY FACTOR
When Bowling Green gets strong offensive production from sophomore forward Danny McElroy, the Falcons' chances of winning increase exponentially. The team is 5-0 in McElroy's career when he scores at least eight points, including 4-0 this year. In wins over Ohio Dominican, Florida International, Buffalo, and Miami, he shot 57 percent from the floor and made at least four field goals in each.

VERSATILITY
Junior forward Scott Thomas really knows how to fill up a stat sheet. He is the only player in the country to be averaging at least 7.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game. He leads the Falcons in scoring, rebounding, steals, free-throws made and three-pointers made, while ranking second on the team in assists.

PLAYING BIGGER THAN HIS SIZE
Sophomore point guard Jordon Crawford stands just 5-foot-6 but plays a big role for the Falcons. Even though he starts the game on the bench, he has taken over the team assist lead by posting at least seven in four of the last six games. He also has 15 steals in the last six games and ranks second in the conference in steals per game in league games only (behind only teammate Scott Thomas).

WE MUST PROTECT THIS HOUSE (THAT ROARS)
Anderson Arena has always been a difficult place for opponents and the Falcons are 7-2 so far in 2010-11 with six straight wins. The Falcons are 463-187 (.712) all-time in Anderson Arena and 177-61 (.744) in the past 18 years.

THIEVERY
Bowling Green leads the MAC and ranks ninth nationally in steals, averaging 9.6 per game. The Falcons have had eight games with at least 10 steals and three with at least 15 this year, including a 19-steal performance against Western Kentucky, the most in a game for a MAC school this year. The 19 steals were just one shy of the program record (the team had 20 steals against Heidelberg in 1990) and Scott Thomas had six steals individually in that game. Thomas ranks second in the MAC and 22nd nationally with 2.43 steals per game and Jordon Crawford is fourth in the league at 2.00 steals per game. The Falcons rank third in the country in steals per possession, picking up a theft on 13.9 percent of their opponents' possessions (only Oregon State and Alabama are better).

WHO NEEDS THREE?
Some teams rely on the three-pointer to win games but Bowling Green is not one of those teams. The team snapped a string of 356 consecutive games with at least one three-pointer made by going 0-for-4 in a road win at St. Louis and followed that up by going 1-for-5 in a double overtime road victory at Buffalo. The Falcons are only attempting 15.5 per game, much less than the 20.2 per game opponents are shooting.

POINTING THE WAY
Point guard play has been critical for the Falcons this year and when BGSU has played well, Joe Jakubowski and Jordon Crawford have played well. Jakubowski and Crawford have combined for 79 assists and just 29 turnovers in the team's 11 victories (a 2.72 assist/turnover ratio). In 11 losses, the duo has 53 assists and 42 turnovers (a 1.26 assist/turnover ratio).

SHOOTING THE ROCK
A year ago, Bowling Green led the Mid-American Conference with a 44.4 field goal percentage. After struggling to shoot through the first nine games, the Falcons have again found their rhythm. Bowling Green has shot 47.8 percent over the course of the past 13 games, including identical 27-of-53 shooting nights in four victories. The team is 9-2 when shooting at least 44 percent from the field this year but has been below 35 percent five times (all in the first nine games). The Falcons are 10-3 in the past 13 games and have shot better than 50 percent in seven of those wins.

STARTING A CAREER
Freshman Cameron Black started the first 17 games of the 2010-11 season before coming off the bench against Ohio. He is the first BGSU freshman to start that many games to begin his collegiate career since Anthony Stacey started all 27 games during the 1995-96 season. Stacey went on to have one of the best careers in program history, setting the school record with 1,938 career points.

DEFENSE WINS
A year ago, Bowling Green held opponents below 45 percent shooting in 13 of its 14 victories and have done the same in 9-of-11 wins this year. In fact, the Falcons are just 6-29 in Head Coach Louis Orr's first four years when an opponent shoots better than 45 percent, including 2-7 this year. The two victories came against Manhattan (48.9 percent shooting) and Ohio (45.8 percent).

DOWN LOW
Head coach Louis Orr's philosophy is always to play inside-out and the Falcons have continued to do that well in 2010-11. The Falcons have scored at least 20 points in the paint in 19 of the first 22 games after reaching that total in 27-of-30 games a year ago. Bowling Green has outscored its opponents in the paint 15 times (and tied both Florida International and Manhattan) after doing it in 23-of-30 games a year ago. The team had a season-high 50 in the win at Buffalo, as well as 44 at Milwaukee and 42 at Saint Louis.

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.

WHAT CAN BROWN DO FOR YOU?
Junior guard Dee Brown was named MAC Player of the Week Jan. 3 for the second time in his career after averaging 14.5 points in leading the Falcons to wins over UTSA and Saint Louis in a three-day span. Brown scored a team-high 21 in the win at Saint Louis and had eight points, six rebounds, and three steals in the victory over UTSA.

THOMAS NAMED LEGENDS CLASSIC ALL-TOURNAMENT
Scott Thomas was named to the Legends Classic Subregional Round All-Tournament team for his performances against Niagara, Detroit, and Albany. He averaged 9.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 4.7 assists, while picking up eight steals in the three games.

JAKUBOWSKI NAMED COUSY AWARD CANDIDATE
Bowling Green senior Joe Jakubowski was named as one of 66 candidates for the 2011 Bob Cousy Award, given to the top point guard in the country. Jakubowski was BGSU's starting point guard during the last half of his freshman campaign and then started every game at the position as both a sophomore and junior. He entered the 2010-11 season with 85 career starts and is one of the most experienced point guards in the country entering the year.

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. One other Findlay resident is a large contributor to the Bowling Green program as Bill Frack, who just announced a $10 million donation to the program, is a lifelong Findlay resident.

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)

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 time 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". Here are the key events of the final year in Anderson Arena and the first year in the Stroh Center:

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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