All Tied Up: BGSU Meets Ohio Wednesday With Possible Byes At Stake

Bowling Green Falcons (13-11, 7-4 MAC) at Ohio Bobcats (19-6, 7-4 MAC)
Feb. 15, 2012 • 7 p.m. • Athens, Ohio • Convocation Center (13,168)
Radio: Falcon Radio Network • Todd Walker (Play-by-Play)
Television: None
Live Stats: http://www.ohiobobcats.com
Live Video: http://www.mac-sports.com
Live Audio: Stretch Internet
Complete Game Notes (.pdf)
PURCHASE TICKETS

QUICK HITS
* BGSU and Ohio enter Wednesday night's contest tied for fourth place in the MAC at 7-4 in league play. The Falcons have won four straight, while Ohio has lost two in a row. Bowling Green defeated Ohio 67-57 in the two teams' first meeting.
* Bowling Green holds a 72-59 lead in the all-time series with Ohio, dating back to 1943. The Falcons hold a 7-3 edge under Head Coach Louis Orr, with a mark of 2-3 in the Convocation Center.
* With four steals Saturday, Scott Thomas remains at the top of the MAC and ranks seventh in the country at 2.6 per game. His 3.3 steals in conference games is fourth-most in the country.
* BGSU has won six games this year when trailing at the half. The Falcons had won just nine such games in head coach Louis Orr's first four years combined.
* BGSU is 4-0 in February, tying November for most wins in a month this year.
* Thomas' 63 steals are the seventh-most in a single-season in BGSU history.
* Jordon Crawford and Thomas rank nine and 11th on BGSU's all-time assist list. Crawford has 295 and Thomas is just behind at 288. Crawford climbed into the top 10 over the past three games.
* Crawford leads the MAC in assists in conference play (5.8 per game).
* Dee Brown has made 10 of his last 17 three-point attempts.
* With 11 points against Toledo, Brown now has 957 career points.
* A'uston Calhoun was named MAC East Player of the Week Monday after averaging 23.5 points and 10.5 rebounds in the past two games.
* A'uston Calhoun ranks seventh in the MAC in scoring. No BGSU player has finished that high since Martin Samarco led the league in scoring in 2006-07. He is third in the MAC in league games only at 14.9 points.

BGSU AND OHIO MEET WITH SHOT AT A BYE ON THE LINE
With the top four teams in the Mid-American Conference earning byes to at least the MAC Tournament Quarterfinals, Bowling Green and Ohio meet Wednesday with a lot on the line. The two teams are currently tied for fourth, just one game behind Kent State and one game ahead of Eastern Michigan for the final bye. The Falcons have won four straight heading into the contest, while the Bobcats have lost two in a row. Bowling Green won the first meeting between the two schools, posting a 67-57 win in the Stroh Center.

THE SERIES
Bowling Green is 72-59 all-time against Ohio and the series dates back to the 1943 season. The Falcons hold a 7-3 lead in the series under Louis Orr, which includes a 2-3 record in the Convocation Center. A year ago, the two teams each won at home and the Bobcats posted a 70-60 win in Athens, outrebounding the Falcons 42-25.

SCOUTING OHIO
Despite entering Wednesday's contest on a two-game losing streak, Ohio still has the best overall record in the MAC at 19-6 and is tied with Bowling Green with a 7-4 league record. The Bobcats win a lot of games by forcing steals and taking care of the basketball as Ohio ranks fifth in the nation in turnover margin (+5.2) and ninth in steals (9.0). D.J. Cooper leads the way with 2.3 steals per game, good for 14th in the country, and he is also handing out 5.4 assists per contest. Nick Kellogg is a dangerous three-point shooter and Jon Smith is active inside, ranking third in the league with 2.9 offensive rebounds in MAC play. Head coach John Groce is in his fourth year leading the program with an overall record of 75-54.

LAST GAME: FALCONS RALLY TO BEAT RIVAL TOLEDO
Bowling Green fought back from a 13-point second-half deficit to defeat rival Toledo and earn the team's fourth straight win with a 66-63 victory Saturday afternoon in front of a standing-room-only crowd at the Stroh Center. Scott Thomas scored 21 points and A'uston Calhoun had 20 points and 12 rebounds as the Falcons overcame a 29-22 halftime deficit by scoring 41 second-half points and grabbing 12 steals. The win pushed Bowling Green into a tie with Ohio for fourth place and was played in front of 4,421 fans, the largest attendance for a BGSU home game in seven years.

THE MAC TOURNAMENT
A new format for the MAC Tournament changes the bracket and seeding this year. The teams with the top two records in the league (regardless of division) will earn a double-bye into the semifinals and the next two best records will earn a bye to the quarterfinals. Teams seeded fifth through eighth will host a first-round game and teams seeded ninth through 12th will play on the road in the first round. Currently, the Falcons are tied with Ohio for fourth place, just one game behind Kent State and one game ahead of Eastern Michigan. If the MAC Tournament were to start today, the Falcons would earn the No. 4 seed and would gain byes to the MAC Tournament Quarterfinals on Thursday in Cleveland at Quicken Loans Arena.

CALHOUN NAMED MAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
A'uston Calhoun earned the first Mid-American Conference East Division Player of the Week honor of his career Monday after averaging 23.5 points and 10.5 rebounds in wins over Ball State and Toledo. He scored 13 straight BGSU points at one point in the second half of the win over the Cardinals and posted his second double-double of the season with 20 points and 12 rebounds in the win over the Rockets. Calhoun also shot 54 percent from the field on the week and dished out four assists.

TORCHING THE NETS
Offensively, Bowling Green has played well in Mid-American Conference play, ranking third in the league in field goal percentage and fourth in three-point percentage. The Falcons have shot at least 50 percent from the floor in five of the 11 conference contests and are shooting 47.2 percent in total, behind only Kent State at 48.3 percent and Akron at 47.4 percent. Bowling Green is also shooting 36.7 percent from three-point range, trailing Miami (39.5 percent), Kent State (38.3 percent), and Akron (37.0 percent).

TORCHING THE NETS IN THE LONG TERM
Bowling Green is 35-8 in head coach Louis Orr's five years when making at least half of its shots. A year ago, the Falcons reached 50 percent nine times and went 8-1 when doing so. This year, BGSU has shot 50 percent in a game nine times again and is 6-3 when doing so, including four MAC wins. The last BGSU team to shoot 50 percent more than nine times in a season was the 2004-05 squad that did it 14 times.

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. Earlier this year, he tied the program record with eight steals in one game and currently has 189 for his career, fourth all-time at Bowling Green. Thomas also ranks sixth in school history with 131 career three-pointers, needs one assist to break into the top 10, and needs 20 rebounds to do the same. 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.

STREAKING
Bowling Green is currently on a four-game winning streak, the longest of the year. In fact, prior to the recent binge, the Falcons had not won or lost more than two in a row all year. Bowling Green's last four-game win streak came at the end of non-conference play a year ago with wins over Manhattan, Texas San Antonio, St. Louis, and Buffalo. The last time the Falcons won five straight came during the team's MAC regular season championship in 2008-09. The squad won six straight during the heart of conference play.

SO THAT'S WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO WIN THERE
Three of Bowling Green's four road wins this year have come in locations in which the Falcons had not won since at least 2002. BGSU had one non-conference road win (against FIU) and has posted three conference road victories (Miami, Western Michigan, and Ball State), equaling last year's MAC road win total.

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 third in the conference and, once again, Scott Thomas and Jordon Crawford are leading the way individually. No other duo in the MAC has combined for the 99 steals those two have and Thomas tied the school record with eight against Miami. In fact, he leads the MAC in steals overall and in steals in league games only. He is fourth in BGSU history with 189 career steals and Crawford is now over the century mark with 115. Thomas ranks seventh in the country with 2.6 steals per game.

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 60-of-74 shots on the year, shooting 81.1 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 37-of-43 shots on the road, for an 86.0 field-goal percentage away from the Stroh Center.

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 10.8 points per game and has started 22-of-24 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 39-of-105 three-pointers (37.1 percent) and 40-of-60 free-throws (66.7 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 then averaged 14.3 in the next ten. Over the past seven games, Calhoun is averaging 17.4 points per game, while shooting 54.5 percent from the floor and grabbing 7.4 rebounds per contest.

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.

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 22-of-24 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 had scored at least 30 points in the paint in seven consecutive games before being held to 16 at Eastern Michigan. 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 six regular season games remaining and a minimum of one MAC Tournament game, Brown needs to average 6.1 points through the remainder of the year to reach that total as he sits at 957 career points.

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).

DEFENSE WINS
Over the course of the past three years, Bowling Green has held its opponent to 45 percent shooting or worse in 34 of the Falcons' 40 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 surpassed that win total and are 4-6 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.

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 9-3 (.750) in the Stroh Center, the team's best home mark since the 2004-05 team went 12-3.

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.

FALCONS TO PLAY ON REGIONAL/NATIONAL TELEVISION
BGSU will play a minimum of six 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 and then again Jan. 28 at Eastern Michigan. The Falcons have two more STO games -- Saturday against Northern Illinois and Feb. 25 at home against Kent State.

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.

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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