BGSU To Face Miami In Oxford

Bowling Green Falcons (7-9, 1-2 MAC) at Miami RedHawks (5-10, 1-2 MAC)
Jan. 18, 2012 • 7 p.m. • Oxford, Ohio • Millett Hall (6,400)
Radio: Falcon Radio Network • Todd Walker (Play-by-Play)
Television: None
Live Stats: http://www.muredhawks.com
Live Video: www.mac-sports.com
Live Audio: Stretch Internet
Complete Game Notes (.pdf)
PURCHASE TICKETS

QUICK HITS
* BGSU and Miami face each other in Oxford, Ohio with identical 1-2 MAC records Wednesday night. The two teams are part of a four-way tie for third in the East Division, trailing Kent State by a game and Akron by two.
* Bowling Green is 49-76 in 125 all-time meetings between the two programs, dating back to 1944. The two teams have split the season series in each of the last two seasons and the RedHawks have won seven straight in Millett Hall since the Falcons last won in the arena during the 2001-02 season.
* While Torian Oglesby is shooting a remarkable 86 percent from the field on the year, he is doing even better on the road. He has made 93.5 percent of his shots away from the Stroh Center, connecting on 29-of-31.
* With four three-pointers against Kent State, Scott Thomas climbed into the top 10 in BGSU history in three-pointers made at ninth place. He already ranks seventh in career steals and is closing in on the top 10 in rebounding as well.
* With a career-high 13 assists at Kent State, Jordon Crawford went over 250 for his career and currently has 252.
* BGSU's 10 three-pointers at Kent State are the most for the team since making 11 against Georgia State in the 2008-09 season opener.
* BGSU has led at the half just four times this year. The Falcons won each of the first three times, but lost to Akron despite holding a 26-20 lead at the break.
* The Falcons have averaged 18.2 turnovers in the past five games. After posting more turnovers than their opponents just once in the first 11 games, the team has now had more turnovers in each of the last five contests.
* BGSU has outrebounded its past six opponents, winning the battle on the boards by an average of 9.1 per game.

BGSU TO FACE MIAMI IN MILLETT HALL
Bowling Green heads on the road for the second consecutive game, playing MAC East Division rival Miami (Ohio) Wednesday night. Both teams are preparing to move back to .500 in league play as the teams are part of a four-way tie for third place in the East Division at 1-2. Kent State stands one game ahead at 2-1 and Akron is the only remaining undefeated team in the league at 3-0.

THE SERIES
Bowling Green and Miami meet for the 126th time Wednesday and the RedHawks hold a 76-49 lead in the all-time series. Last year, BGSU posted a 62-53 win at home but Miami avenged that loss with an 84-77 win in Oxford. In fact, Miami has won seven straight in Millett Hall since the Falcons won 65-50 on Feb. 20, 2002.

SCOUTING MIAMI
Playing one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the Mid-American Conference, Miami is 5-10 overall and 1-2 in league play. The RedHawks lost to Akron and Kent State to open conference action and then held serve at home with a 52-51 win over Buffalo. Julian Mavunga, a 6-foot-8 senior forward, is one of the favorites for MAC Player of the Year and leads the conference with 18.5 points and 9.9 rebounds per game. Brian Sullivan, a 5-11 freshman guard, is a deadly three-point shooter, making 8-of-16 from long range in conference play and averaging 13.3 points in those contests. The RedHawks shoot free-throws well, leading the league by making 73.4 percent of their charity shots. Miami is struggling defensively, ranking 11th in the MAC in both field-goal percentage defense and three-point percentage defense. Head coach Charlie Coles is in his 16th season at Miami with a record of 259-213. Overall, he has coached 22 years with a mark of 351-297.

LAST GAME: BGSU SCORES 60 IN SECOND HALF BUT FALLS TO KSU
Bowling Green battled back from 19 points behind against Kent State Saturday, but the Falcons lost to the Golden Flashes 92-87. After trailing by 18 points at the half, BGSU scored 60 in the second half to make it interesting. Scott Thomas scored 21 of his team-high 23 points after the break, tying his career-high with four three-pointers. Jordon Crawford had a career-high 13 assists and added 10 points for his third career double-double. Torian Oglesby came off the bench to post 16 points and 12 rebounds, while Craig Sealey also played well off the bench in extended time, finishing with 11 points and seven rebounds.

THE RECORD SETTER
Senior forward Torian Oglesby set an NCAA Division I record by making 26 consecutive field goal attempts, a streak that ended with a first-half miss against Ohio. Despite the miss, Oglesby has made 43-of-50 shots on the year, shooting 86.0 percent. The old record of 25 consecutive field goal attempts without a miss was set by Ray Voelkel of American University in 1978, a mark which stood for 33 years. As if all of that is not remarkable enough, Oglesby has made 29-of-31 shots on the road, for a 93.5 field-goal percentage away from the Stroh Center.

FIRST HALF ROAD WOES
Bowling Green is just 1-7 on the road this year, but most of the team's struggles have come in the first half. The Falcons have trailed at the half in all eight of those contests but have outscored their opponent in the second half six times. In fact, Bowling Green trails by an average of 8.6 points at the break but has outscored their opponents by an average of 3.6 points in the second half. BGSU averages 27.1 first-half points on the road and 39.6 second-half points.

TORCHING THE NETS
Through three conference games, Bowling Green leads the Mid-American Conference in field-goal percentage and three-point percentage in league games. The Falcons have shot 48.5 percent from the field in conference games (easily surpassing Kent State's 46.3 percent for second-best) and have shot 44.2 percent on three-pointers (better than Central Michigan's 43.1 percent in second).

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. With four three-pointers against Kent State, he moved into the top 10 in program history and into ninth place with 118 in his career. He already ranks seventh in career steals and could move into the top 10 in career rebounds and assists before the year is over. He also went over 1,000 career points with a three-pointer early against Duquesne and is the only player in program history with 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 150 steals and 100 three-pointers in a career.

TAKING CARE OF THE ROCK
Early in the year, Bowling Green was dominating the turnover margin battle, but the Falcons have struggled lately. BGSU had more turnovers than their opponents just once in the first 11 games but has lost the battle in each of the past five games. During the recent stretch, the team has had at least 15 turnovers in each contest and 20 twice. The team is averaging 18.2 turnovers in the last five games, 6.0 more than opponents.

WHAT A STEAL
Over the course of the past two seasons, Bowling Green has been one of the top teams in the Mid-American Conference in steals, leading the conference in that category a year ago. This year, the team is sixth in the conference and, once again, Scott Thomas and Jordon Crawford are leading the way individually. The duo has combined for 58 steals and Thomas ranks second in the conference, while Crawford is tied for ninth. Thomas is seventh in BGSU history with 159 career steals and Crawford is now over the century mark with 104.

HEIGHT IS OVERRATED
At 5-feet-6, junior point guard Jordon Crawford is the fourth-shortest player in NCAA Division I basketball. Green Bay's Eric Valentin measures in as the shortest player at 5-4, while Denver's Charles Webb and George Washington's Malik Tonkins are both 5-5. None of those players have the type of impact that Crawford has on the Falcons though as none of the three have started a game and none are averaging more than 1.0 point per contest. Crawford, on the other hand, is third on the Falcons at 10.2 points per game and has started 14-of-16 contests.

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 26-of-67 three-pointers (38.8 percent) and 33-of-47 free-throws (70.2 percent).

THE BIG APOSTROPHE
Junior A'uston Calhoun has turned his game up as the 2011-12 season has worn on. He averaged just 2.5 points in the first two games of the season, improved to 12.4 points over the next five, and has averaged 14.4 in the last nine. He has also improved his field goal percentage throughout the year.

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 32-8 in head coach Louis Orr's four years when making at least half of their shots. This year, Bowling Green shot over 50 percent in wins over Temple, Malone and Ohio, but lost to Valparaiso, Duquesne and Kent State despite making more than half their shot attempts.

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 15-of-16 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. BGSU has scored at least 30 points in the paint in four consecutive games as well. In 2009-10 and 2010-11, the Falcons scored 20 or more points in the paint in 57-of-63 games.

1,000 POINT SCORERS
With a three-pointer against Duquesne, Scott Thomas became the 38th player in program history to score 1,000 career points. Senior Dee Brown also has a chance to reach 1,000 points this year, which would be just the seventh time in school history that two players have reached the milestone in the same year. Considering 14 regular season games remaining and a minimum of one MAC Tournament game, Brown needs to average 9.2 points through the remainder of the year to reach that total as he sits at 862 career points.

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.

DEFENSE WINS
Over the course of the past three years, Bowling Green has held its opponent to 45 percent shooting or worse in 30 of the Falcons' 35 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 but are just 2-6 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.

A NEW HOLIDAY TRADITION
BGSU men's basketball played on New Year's Day for the second consecutive season as the Falcons lost to Texas San Antonio in overtime, 86-79. Bowling Green is 4-2 all-time when breaking in the New Year and the Falcons were just one of eight NCAA Division I programs to play on New Year's Day in each of the past two seasons (joining Syracuse, DePaul, Marquette, Southern Illinois, Illinois State, Northern Iowa, and Evansville).

WHERE MY FALCONS AT?
Bowling Green finally returned home to open conference action after playing away from the Stroh Center for a month with five consecutive road games in five different States. According to Google Maps, the team traveled a total of 6,442 miles, or slightly more than a quarter of the way around the planet.

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 6-2 (.750) in the Stroh Center, which is on pace for the team's best home record since going 12-3 during the 2004-05 season.

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.

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.

FALCONS TO PLAY ON REGIONAL/NATIONAL TELEVISION
BGSU will play a minimum of five games on ESPNU, SportsTime Ohio, or the Big Ten Network this year. The Falcons played on ESPNU at Georgia on Nov. 13 and then played on the Big Ten Network Dec. 17 at Michigan State. The Falcons also played on STO on Jan. 7 against Ohio in the first MAC game in the Stroh Center. BGSU has two more STO games scheduled, on Jan. 28 at Eastern Michigan and on Feb. 4 vs. Northern Illinois. On top of those contests, there are approximately a dozen other opportunities for STO or ESPN to choose the Falcons for television games.

THOMAS NAMED MAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Scott Thomas was named MAC East Division Player of the Week on Nov. 28 after guiding the Falcons to a 3-1 week, including a win over Temple. Thomas scored in double-figures in all four games, averaging 12.0 points and 5.8 rebounds per contest. He also had seven assists, nine steals, and two blocked shots.

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 Ohio 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 Ohio 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

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