Falcons Close East Play At Home Against Buffalo Saturday

Bowling Green Falcons (8-9, 2-2 MAC) vs. Buffalo Bulls (9-6, 2-2 MAC)
Jan. 21, 2012 • 4 p.m. • Bowling Green, Ohio • Stroh Center (4,347)
Radio: Falcon Radio Network • Todd Walker (Play-by-Play)/Kirk Cowan (Color)
Television: None
Live Stats: http://www.bgsufalcons.com
Live Video: America One Network
Live Audio: Stretch Internet
Complete Game Notes (.pdf)
PURCHASE TICKETS

QUICK HITS
* BGSU closes out the first trip through the East Division Saturday at home against Buffalo. The two teams have identical 2-2 MAC records and are part of a four-way tie for second in the East Division, trailing Akron by a game.
* Bowling Green is 16-7 all-time against Buffalo in a series that only began in 1999. The Falcons swept the season series a year ago and have gone 3-1 at home against the Bulls in the Louis Orr tenure. In fact, the Falcons are 10-2 all-time at home against Buffalo.
* Scott Thomas tied the program record with eight steals Wednesday against Miami. He climbed from seventh to fifth place on the career steals list with the performance.
* Thomas also ranks ninth in career three-pointers made in BGSU history and is closing in on the top 10 in assists and rebounds.
* Jordon Crawford scored a career-high 25 points at Miami on 10-of-13 shooting. He has at least three assists in 11 consecutive games and leads the MAC in assists in conference play.
* 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 ended a rough stretch of turnovers with just 11 at Miami. BGSU had averaged 18.2 turnovers in the previous five games.
* BGSU has outrebounded its past seven opponents, winning the battle on the boards by an average of 8.4 per game.
* Bowling Green has shot 50 percent or better in a game seven times this year, including three of the last four contests. The Falcons are 4-3 when reaching that percentage.
* After playing just four minutes against Kent State due to injury, Cam Black came off the bench to play 25 minutes against Miami, tying his career-high with three blocked shots.

BGSU AND BUFFALO TO SQUARE OFF TO COMPLETE EAST PLAY
Bowling Green completes its first trip through the Mid-American Conference East Division Saturday at home against Buffalo at 4 p.m. Both the Falcons and the Bulls enter the game with 2-2 league records and sit in a four-way tie for second in the division. Akron leads the way at 3-1, while Kent State and Ohio also share 2-2 league marks. Every team in the MAC now has at least one conference loss and at least one conference win, making every game even more critical for league positioning.

THE SERIES
Bowling Green holds a 16-7 lead in the all-time series against Buffalo, including a 10-2 mark at home. The Falcons swept the season series a year ago, winning 74-71 in double overtime on the road and then posting a 73-63 win at home in the final regular season game in Anderson Arena. BGSU is 3-1 at home against Buffalo under Louis Orr and 5-3 altogether in the Orr era.

SCOUTING BUFFALO
Buffalo is 9-6 on the season and has gotten off to a 2-2 start in Mid-American Conference play, defeating Kent State and Akron, but losing to Ohio and Miami. The Bulls lead the MAC with 74.5 points per game and shoot a league-best 46.5 percent from the floor. With Mitchell Watt and Javon McCrea inside, Buffalo has one of the most imposing frontcourts in the league and the team outrebounds opponents by an average of 8.3 per game and block 5.3 shots per contest, both MAC bests. Buffalo does struggle with turnovers and, despite having the top three-point shooter in the MAC in Zach Filzen, are just ninth in the league with 5.9 three-pointers per game. Watt and McCrea rank third and fifth in the conference in rebounding and McCrea is third in scoring at 16.6 points per game. Filzen makes 3.1 three-pointers per game and shoots 44.2 percent from long range. Head coach Reggie Witherspoon is 173-203 in 13 seasons at Buffalo and 217-226 in 15 seasons overall.

LAST GAME: CRAWFORD SCORES 25 IN ROAD WIN AT MIAMI (OHIO)
Jordon Crawford scored a career-high 25 points and Scott Thomas almost recorded a triple-double as Bowling Green won its first road conference game Wednesday, 65-57 at Miami. Thomas finished with 11 points, 11 rebounds, five assists, and tied a school-record with eight steals. A'uston Calhoun added 13 points and six rebounds, while Dee Brown chipped in 10 points as four Falcons finished in double-figures in scoring. BGSU shot 56 percent in the second half to overcome a four-point halftime deficit. The Falcons outscored Miami 41-29 in the second half for the win.

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 44-of-52 shots on the year, shooting 84.6 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 30-of-33 shots on the road, for a 90.9 field-goal percentage away from the Stroh Center.

FIRST HALF ROAD WOES
Bowling Green is just 2-7 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 nine of those contests but have outscored their opponent in the second half seven times. In fact, Bowling Green trails by an average of 8.1 points at the break but has outscored their opponents by an average of 4.6 points in the second half. BGSU averages 26.8 first-half points on the road and 39.8 second-half points.

TORCHING THE NETS
Through four conference games, Bowling Green leads the Mid-American Conference in field-goal percentage and three-point percentage in league games. The Falcons have shot 48.9 percent from the field in conference games (surpassing Kent State's 47.7 percent for second-best) and have shot 41.2 percent on three-pointers (better than Akron's 38.5 percent in second). BGSU has shot at least 50 percent from the floor in 3-of-4 league games and four of the last six overall.

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 eight steals against Miami, he tied a program record for a single-game and moved into fifth place in BGSU history with 167. He also ranks ninth in school history with 119 career three-pointers and could move into the top 10 in career assists and rebounds before the year is over. He 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. Although the Falcons did commit just 11 turnovers in a win at Miami, the Falcons had averaged 18.2 turnovers in the five games prior to that, 6.0 more than their opponents. BGSU had more turnovers than its opponent just once in the first 11 games before losing the turnover battle five straight contests. Against Miami, the Falcons turned things around, forcing 16 turnovers via 10 steals.

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 fourth in the conference and, once again, Scott Thomas and Jordon Crawford are leading the way individually. The duo has combined for 67 steals and Thomas ranks second in the conference, while Crawford is tied for ninth. In fact, Thomas tied the school record with eight steals against Miami and leads the league in steals in conference games. He ranks fifth in BGSU history with 167 career steals and Crawford is now over the century mark with 105.

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. In fact, Crawford's 25 points against Miami are more than the other three have combined to score all season. He is third on the team with 11.1 points per game and has started 15-of-17 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 27-of-70 three-pointers (38.6 percent) and 33-of-47 free-throws (70.2 percent). Thomas ranks 10th in the MAC in three-point percentage.

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 14.3 in the last 10. 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 33-8 in head coach Louis Orr's four years when making at least half of their shots. This year, Bowling Green is 4-3 when shooting at least 50 percent from the floor, including both of the team's conference wins.

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 16-of-17 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 five 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 13 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 872 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 31 of the Falcons' 36 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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