Falcons Face Another First Place Team Saturday

BGSU at Akron
Saturday, Feb. 16, 2013; 7:30 p.m.
James A. Rhodes Arena (5,500) / Akron, Ohio
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COMPLETE GAME NOTES (.PDF)

2012-13 MAC STANDINGS
EAST TEAMS	MAC	OVERALL
Akron	11-0	20-4
Ohio	9-1	18-6
Bowling Green	5-6	10-14
Buffalo	5-6	10-15
Kent State	5-6	14-11
Miami	3-8	8-15
WEST TEAMS	MAC	OVERALL
Toledo	7-4	11-11
Western Michigan	7-4	15-9
Eastern Michigan	4-6	11-13
Ball State	4-7	10-13
Northern Illinois	3-8	5-18
Central Michigan	2-9	9-15

QUICK HITS (SIZED FOR YOUR TWITTER ADDICTION)
* Bowling Green hits the road to face MAC leader Akron Saturday night at 7:30 pm in James A. Rhodes Arena.
* Akron has won 16 straight games and is receiving votes in both the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches polls.
* BGSU is 1-9 on the road this year and 1-5 in MAC play, while Akron is 12-0 at home and 5-0 in conference action.
* Akron handed BGSU its only home MAC loss of the year with a 68-55 defeat on Jan. 30.
* Akron holds a 26-24 edge in the all-time series and has won eight in a row over Bowling Green.
* If the MAC Tournament started today, BGSU would be the No. 4 seed and earn byes to the third round in Cleveland.
* A'uston Calhoun earned his second career MAC East Player of the Week award for his efforts last week.
* A'uston Calhoun has scored in double-figures in 10 straight games and has 17.2 points and 8.2 rebounds in the past five.
* Chauncey Orr has made 9-of-17 three-pointers and Luke Kraus has made 9-of-21 in the past eight games.
* BG's A'uston Calhoun and Jordon Crawford are the second-highest scoring duo in the MAC, averaging 31.4 points per contest.
* Richaun Holmes ranks 27th in the country in blocked shots at 2.4 per contest.
* With 58 blocks, Richaun Holmes needs two more to set the program's single-season record.
* Richaun Holmes has more blocked shots than four MAC teams.
* BGSU has shot at least 50 percent from the field twice in the past four games after doing it just once in the first 19.
* The Falcons will play at IPFW Feb. 23 in the 11th and final BracketBusters series.
* Bowling Green's March 2 game at home against Ohio has been picked up by STO and the start time has been moved to noon.

FALCONS FACE ANOTHER FIRST PLACE OPPONENT SATURDAY
Just three days after defeating Mid-American West Division leader Western Michigan, the Bowling Green men's basketball team will look to snap Akron's 16-game winning streak on the road Saturday at 7:30 p.m. The Zips are undefeated in MAC play this year and are receiving votes in both the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches polls. BGSU will also look to avenge a home loss to Akron earlier this year, the only MAC defeat the Falcons have had in the Stroh Center this year.

THE SERIES
Akron has built a 26-24 lead in the all-time series on the strength of eight consecutive wins since the Falcons defeated the Zips in James A. Rhodes Arena 50-46 during the 2008-09 season. Akron has win three in a row in the JAR and the Zips beat Bowling Green 68-55 earlier this year in the Stroh Center.

LAST GAME: FALCONS' HOT SHOOTING DOWNS WMU
Bowling Green shot 64 percent in the second half as the Falcons broke away from a 30-30 halftime tie to defeat Western Michigan 70-60 Wednesday night. The Broncos had won 7-of-8 games entering the contest and were in first place in the MAC West Division, but A'uston Calhoun scored 24 points on 10-of-17 shooting to help the Falcons get a key conference win. BGSU improved to 3-1 in the month of February behind 13 points from Jordon Crawford and 11 points from Chauncey Orr. Richaun Holmes came off the bench for eight points, nine rebounds, three steals, two assists and two blocked shots.

EARLIER THIS YEAR VS. AKRON
Chauncey Orr scored a team-high 16 points and Craig Sealey scored a season-high 10 but Akron won its 12th game in a row with a 68-55 victory over the Falcons. A'uston Calhoun recorded his third double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds as BGSU trailed by just seven with 12:39 to play. Akron, though, used an 8-0 run to put the contest away.

BLOCK PARTY
With two blocked shots against Western Michigan, Richaun Holmes now has 58 on the season and is just one away from tying the BGSU single-season record of 59 set by Cornelius Cash in 1973-74. Holmes is 27th in the country with 2.4 blocks per game and has blocked at least four shots six times this year. According to StatSheet, Holmes ranks fourth in the country in block percentage at 14.8 percent (percentage of non-three-point shots blocked while on the floor).

10 ORR MORE
Sophomore Chauncey Orr, son of head coach Louis Orr, has put together the strongest stretch of his young career, scoring at least 10 points in five of the past eight games. He scored a career-high 18 points in a win over Kent State and is averaging 10.6 points on 57.7 percent shooting during the stretch. Orr has also made 9-of-17 three-pointers and 16-of-18 free-throws to go with 14 assists and 14 steals. In MAC games only, Orr ranks in the top six in the conference in field goal percentage, three-point percentage and steals.

THREE'S THE KEY
While Chauncey Orr has made 9-of-17 three-pointers over the past eight games, teammate Luke Kraus has been almost as strong during that time frame. Kraus has made 9-of-21 three-pointers, twice connecting on three in a game (at Toledo and at Northern Illinois).

CLOSE THE DEAL
Bowling Green has been ahead or tied in the final 10 minutes in 19 of the team's 24 games this year, including 9-of-14 losses. Seven times, Bowling Green has had possession in the final 10 seconds of those losses with a chance to win or tie.

BRACKETBUSTERS
The 11th and final Ramada Worldwide BracketBusters match-ups were announced Monday evening and Bowling Green will play at IPFW on Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. The Falcons are 6-4 all-time in the BracketBusters series and are 1-1 all-time against IPFW.

CALHOUN NAMED MAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Senior forward A'uston Calhoun averaged 17.0 points and 10.0 rebounds in two contests last week to earn MAC East Division Player of the Week honors for the second time in his career. Calhoun had his fourth double-double of the season Wednesday night as the Falcons won their first road game of the year, beating Northern Illinois 57-41. He finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds, adding a blocked shot and a steal. In a tough 72-63 road loss at second-place Ohio Saturday, Calhoun had 19 points and eight rebounds. He was also 9-of-11 at the free-throw line on the week.

THE MAC TOURNAMENT
With five MAC games remaining before the MAC Tournament, Bowling Green has put itself into position to battle for one of the five byes. The Falcons would currently be the No. 4 seed and would earn two byes directly to the MAC Tournament third round. Bowling Green is tied with Kent State and Buffalo, but holds the three-way tiebreak advantage, and is 1/2 game ahead of Eastern Michigan, also holding that tiebreak should the teams end tied.

PLUS/MINUS
Although they rank just third, fourth and fifth on the team in scoring, Chauncey Orr, Anthony Henderson and Richaun Holmes may have had the largest impact on the success of the team so far this year. Bowling Green has outscored its opponents by 38 points when Orr is on the floor, 17 points when Henderson is on the court and 10 when Holmes is in the game. Those are the top three plus/minus ratings on the Falcons this year.

THE SPLITS
Bowling Green's home and away free-throw shooting numbers are eye-popping. On the road, the Falcons have attempted 29 fewer free-throws than opponents have made, shooting just 66.1 percent. At home, Bowling Green has attempted 34 more free-throws than opponents, shooting 72.5 percent at the stripe. In nine road games, BGSU has given up an average of more than seven points per game at the free-throw line.

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, averaging 31.4 points per game. Toledo's Rian Pearson and Julius Brown lead the way at 31.5 points, while Kent State's Chris Evans and Randal Holt are third at 31.0 points.

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.

68 OR LESS
Bowling Green is 0-10 this year when opponents score at least 68 points and 10-4 when holding those teams to 67 or less.

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 8-3 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 20-7 record in the Stroh Center comes out to a .741 winning percentage, which is higher than the program's .709 winning percentage in Anderson Arena, the home for the Falcons from 1960-2011.

STROH IN THE 70'S
BGSU is 9-0 all-time when scoring at least 70 points in the Stroh Center. The Falcons went 5-0 last year and defeated Detroit 70-65, Kent State 70-55, Ball State 70-59 and Western Michigan 70-60 this year.

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 39-9 in Orr's five years at Bowling Green when reaching that total. BG shot 50 percent from the field three times this year, beating Ball State and Western Michigan at home after losing to Miami on the road.

HINDSIGHT IS 20-20
When Jordon Crawford and A'uston Calhoun each scored 21 points at Miami, it marked the second time this year that the senior duo has each reached the 20-point mark in the same game. Unfortunately, the Falcons have lost both of those contests (the other being a triple overtime loss at South Florida). In fact, Bowling Green has lost all three games in their careers when they both scored 20 points (losing at Valparaiso a year ago).

BLOCKING OUT
Bowling Green has blocked as many or more shots than its opponent in 20-of-24 games this year, including a season-high 10 against USF. It marked the first time the Falcons had 10 blocked shots in a game since blocking 11 at Illinois State on Dec. 6, 2008. Sophomore transfer Richaun Holmes has led the way with 58 blocks, ranking third in the MAC.

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

D-FENSE! D-FENSE!
Earlier this year, Bowling Green held Wright State and Samford to 42 points or less in back-to-back games. 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.

NOT ONE, NOT TWO, BUT THREE OVERTIMES
While the school record for overtimes in a single game is four, Bowling Green played a triple overtime contest for the first time in 20 years against South Florida earlier this year. The last time the Falcons went that deep into the night came in a 91-88 loss to Ball State on Jan. 29, 1992. Overall, the Falcons have played in four overtime sessions already this year, the most since the team played four overtime games in the 2001-02 season.

1,000 POINT TEAMMATES
With a fastbreak lay-up early in the game at Buffalo, Jordon Crawford joined teammate A'uston Calhoun in reaching 1,000 career points this year. The duo are the 40th and 41st players in program history to reach that milestone. They are the eighth set of teammates to score 1,000 career points in the same season, but it is the first time that it's happened in back-to-back seasons as Scott Thomas and Dee Brown reached that total a year ago.

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 106-of-118 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.

FALCONS ON REGIONAL/NATIONAL TELEVISION
BGSU will play a minimum of four games on ESPNU and SportsTime Ohio this year. The Falcons hosted Michigan State on ESPNU on Dec. 18 and then played host to Eastern Michigan on STO on Jan. 12 and Akron on Jan. 30. It was also announced that the Falcons would host Ohio on March 2 on STO with a game time set for 12 p.m. 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.

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).

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.

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