Falcons Begin Road Trip With South Florida

BGSU at South Florida
Friday, Dec. 21, 2012; 7:00 p.m.
USF Sun Dome (9,662) / Tampa, Fla.
LIVE STATS (COMING SOON)
LIVE AUDIO
COMPLETE GAME NOTES (.PDF)

2012-13 MAC STANDINGS
EAST TEAMS	MAC	OVERALL
Ohio	0-0	7-4
Akron	0-0	5-4
Bowling Green	0-0	5-5
Kent State	0-0	5-5
Buffalo	0-0	4-7
Miami	0-0	3-6
WEST TEAMS	MAC	OVERALL
Eastern Michigan	0-0	6-3
Western Michigan	0-0	7-4
Central Michigan	0-0	5-4
Ball State	0-0	5-5
Toledo	0-0	3-6
Northern Illinois	0-0	2-8

QUICK HITS (SIZED FOR YOUR TWITTER ADDICTION)
* Bowling Green plays just its second true road game Friday with a contest at South Florida at 7 p.m.
* The Falcons' next five games will be played in five different states (Florida, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio).
* BGSU is 0-1 all-time against South Florida, losing 88-79 on the road on Jan. 2, 1978.
* In the Michigan State game, A'uston Calhoun became the 40th player in school history to reach 1,000 career points.
* With seven assists against Michigan State, Jordon Crawford moved into seventh place in BGSU history with 373.
* Jordon Crawford is ninth all-time with 148 career steals and needs one more to move into eighth.
* Sophomore Richaun Holmes has 23 blocked shots and is on-pace to break the school record for blocks in a season.
* Richaun Holmes has blocked at least two shots in six straight games.
* A'uston Calhoun has made 18 consecutive free-throws and is shooting 82 percent on the season.
* Jordon Crawford has made 18 of his last 20 free-throws after making just 9-of-19 attempts to start the year.
* Sophomore Chauncey Orr scored a career-high 16 points in just 20 minutes against Michigan State.
* Bowling Green's bench has outscored the opponent's bench in seven straight games.
* The Falcons have 10 turnovers or less in five of the past six games.
* BGSU is shooting 81.0 percent (85-of-105) from the free-throw line in the past six games.
* BGSU is 4-0 when outrebounding its opponent.
* The Falcons have given up an average of 51.3 points per game in the last four contests.

FALCONS START RUGGED ROAD TRIP FRIDAY
Bowling Green plays the first of four road games Friday with a trip to Tampa, Fla. to face South Florida of the BIG EAST Friday at 7 p.m. The contest is also the first of five games in five different states, concluding with a pair of Mid-American Conference games. BGSU has played just one true road game this year, a 71-60 loss to Robert Morris

THE SERIES
Bowling Green and South Florida have played just once all-time, an 88-79 South Florida victory on Jan. 2, 1978. BGSU is 27-48 against current members of the BIG EAST, though that all changes in the near future as the league undergoes significant realignment.

NO. 20 SPARTANS TAKE CONTROL LATE TO EDGE FALCONS
Chauncey Orr knocked down a three-point shot with 10:29 to go in the second half Tuesday night to tie BGSU's game with No. 20 Michigan State at 45-45. But the Falcons made just one field goal the rest of the way and Spartans avoided the upset with a 64-53 win. Orr scored a career-high 16 points, while Jordon Crawford had 10 points and a season-high seven assists in the loss. Bowling Green had just 10 turnovers, five fewer than Michigan State, but the Spartans shot 48 percent from the field to get the win in the Stroh Center.

D-FENSE! D-FENSE!
Bowling Green's defense has been stout over the past four games, allowing just 51.3 points per contest. In fact, in back-to-back wins over Wright State and Samford, the Falcons held each team to 42 points or less. It was the first time the team had done that in successive games since doing so against Loyola and Pepperdine on Dec. 22 and Dec. 27, 1949. It also marked the first time the team held back-to-back opponents to 83 points or less since holding Western Ontario and Miami to 82 points on Dec. 8 and Dec. 12, 1962.

1,000 POINT TEAMMATES
Against Michigan State, A'uston Calhoun scored his 1,000th career point. With 890 points, Jordon Crawford needs just 110 more to tie him. They would become just the eighth set of teammates to reach the milestone in the same season. It would also be the first time that it's happened in back-to-back seasons as Scott Thomas and Dee Brown both did it last year.

STROH IN THE 70'S
BGSU is 6-0 all-time when scoring at least 70 points in the Stroh Center. The Falcons went 5-0 last year and defeated Detroit 70-65 this year.

THE NEXT T.O.?
A year ago, Torian Oglesby shot a remarkable 74 percent from the field and set a new NCAA record by making 21 consecutive field goal attempts. Oglesby graduated, but a new player has stepped into that role. Sophomore transfer Richaun Holmes has made 22-of-33 field goal attempts this year, knocking down 67 percent of his shots thus far. In fact, Holmes has missed more than one field-goal attempt in a game just twice this year.

THREE'S THE KEY?
After shooting three-pointers well for four consecutive games, the Falcons have slid over the past four. BGSU went just 14-of-64 (21.9 percent) from long range against Youngstown State, Wright State, Samford and Michigan State.

PLUS/MINUS
Although none of them rank among the top three on the team in scoring, James Erger, Richaun Holmes, Anthony Henderson and Luke Kraus may have had the largest impact on the success of the team so far this year. Bowling Green has outscored its opponents by 32 points when Erger is on the floor, 30 when Holmes is on the floor, 18 when Henderson is on the floor and 12 when Kraus is on the floor, the top four totals on the team.

1-2 PUNCH
Senior forward A'uston Calhoun and senior guard Jordon Crawford currently rank as the second-highest scoring duo in the Mid-American Conference. Calhoun and Crawford have combined for 31.1 points per game to trail Toledo's Julius Brown and Rian Pearson at 34.1 points per contest. Kent State's Chris Evans and Randal Holt are third at 29.4 points per game.

MORE OF THE DYNAMIC DUO
Both A'uston Calhoun and Jordon Crawford are averaging at least 15.0 points per game. The last BG teammates to finish a season at 15.0 points per game or better were John Reimold (18.5 points) and Josh Almanson (17.2 points) in 2004-05.

THE CHARITY STRIPE
In the past six games, BGSU has made 85-of-105 free-throws (81.0 percent), including 19-of-21 against Wright State. In the first four games of the year, the Falcons shot just 60.2 percent from the stripe. The team's season-percentage of 72.5 is the best since the 2004-05 team shot 74.8 percent for the season. The school record is 75.3 percent in 1964-65.

SENIOR IMPACT
Each of Bowling Green's four seniors have increased their scoring average this year. Combined, A'uston Calhoun, Jordon Crawford, James Erger and Luke Kraus are scoring 37.2 points per game in 2012-13, up from 29.0 points per contest a year ago.

AT THE LINE
Bowling Green is 4-0 when outrebounding its opponents this year. The Falcons are -0.4 boards on the season, but the team has outrebounded Lake Erie, Alabama Huntsville, Wright State and Samford by at least eight each.

50% IS GREATER THAN 80%
Under Head Coach Louis Orr, Bowling Green has won more than 80 percent of its games when its shoots at least 50 percent from the floor. A year ago, the Falcons went 8-3 in such games and are 37-8 in Orr's five years at Bowling Green when reaching that total. BG is yet to shoot 50 percent in a game this year.

EVEN MORE SHOOTING PROWESS
Bowling Green went 5-0 a year ago when shooting at least 54 percent from the floor, defeating Temple, Malone, Western Michigan, Morehead State, and Kent State.

BLOCKING OUT
Bowling Green has had as many or more blocked shots than its opponent in 9-of-10 games this year. The Falcons had seven blocked shots in each of the first two games and have had at least two in every contest this year. Sophomore transfer Richaun Holmes has led the way with 23 blocks, ranking third in the MAC.

HOLMES THINKING RECORDS?
With 23 blocked shots in the first nine games, Richaun Holmes is on pace to finish the 31-game regular season with 71 blocked shots, which would break the school record of 59 for a single-season (Cornelius Cash in 1973-74). Add in a minimum of one MAC Tournament game and Holmes could shatter the mark.

WINNING UGLY
One sign of a good team is the ability to win games when not playing at its best. Three times this year, the Falcons have won games when shooting below 40 percent from the field, beating Lake Erie, Wright State and Samford. A year ago, BGSU lost all seven contests when it show below 40 percent.

HOME COURT ADVANTAGE
In just over one year, the Stroh Center has proven to be a difficult place for opponents to play. The Falcons are 4-2 this year at home after going 12-4 a year ago, including a mark of 3-0 against teams that eventually went to the NCAA Tournament (victories over Detroit, Temple and Ohio). The 16-6 record in the Stroh Center comes out to a .727 winning percentage, which is higher than the program's .709 winning percentage in Anderson Arena, the home for the Falcons from 1960-2011.

THE POST GAME
Head coach Louis Orr's philosophy is always to play inside-out and the Falcons have done that well during his tenure. In the past four seasons, BGSU has scored 20 or more points in the paint in 94-of-104 games. The high-water mark came when Bowling Green scored 58 points in the paint against Malone a year ago.

FRESH FACES
BGSU head coach Louis Orr announced the signing of three student-athletes during the fall signing period. J.D. Tisdale (Flint, Mich./Swartz Creek High School), Zach Denny (Germantown, Ohio/Valley View High School) and Garret Mayleben (Milford, Ohio/Milford High School) will join transfer Josh Gomez (Brooklyn, N.Y./Rice High School/Iona) among next year's incoming class.

LITTLE BIG MAN
At 5-feet-6, junior point guard Jordon Crawford is likely the best player in the country at his height. Over the summer, Bleacher Report named him the best Division I player in the nation at his height. Crawford currently ranks third in the MAC at 16.6 points per game.

FALCONS ON REGIONAL/NATIONAL TELEVISION
BGSU will play a minimum of three games on ESPNU and SportsTime Ohio this year. The Falcons hosted Michigan State on ESPNU on Dec. 18 and will host Eastern Michigan on STO on Jan. 12. The third guaranteed contest comes on STO on Jan. 30 at home against Akron. There will be 10 more MAC games selected to be aired on ESPN/STO throughout the year.

PRESEASON ALL-MAC
A'uston Calhoun earned East Division Preseason All-MAC honors by voting of 24 members of the MAC News Media. Calhoun was one of five players selected in the East Division, joining Buffalo's Javon McCrea, Akron's Zeke Marshall, and Ohio's D.J. Cooper and Walter Offutt.

MEDIA PICKS BOWLING GREEN FIFTH
Bowling Green was picked to finish fifth in the East Division by vote of 24 members of the MAC News Media. The Falcons were chosen ahead of Miami, while Ohio was selected to win the division, followed by Akron, Kent State and Buffalo.

CSM HONORS CALHOUN, CRAWFORD
College Sports Madness released its preseason All-MAC awards, naming A'uston Calhoun first team preseason All-MAC and Jordon Crawford third team.

A'USTON IS ALL-MAC
A'uston Calhoun was named to the 2012 All-MAC Second Team by vote of the league's 12 head coaches after being named honorable mention in 2011. Calhoun ranked fifth in the MAC in scoring in league games (15.1 points per game), eighth in field-goal percentage (50.3 percent), and 12th in rebounding (5.4 per game).

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