Falcons Host New Orleans In Non-Conference Tilt

BGSU vs. New Orleans
Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013; 7:00 p.m.
Stroh Center (4,280) / Bowling Green, Ohio
LIVE STATS
LIVE AUDIO
LIVE VIDEO
COMPLETE GAME NOTES (.PDF)

2012-13 MAC STANDINGS
EAST TEAMS	MAC	OVERALL
Akron	12-0	21-4
Ohio	10-1	19-6
Buffalo	6-6	11-15
Bowling Green	5-7	10-15
Kent State	5-7	14-12
Miami	3-9	8-16
WEST TEAMS	MAC	OVERALL
Toledo	8-4	12-11
Western Michigan	8-4	16-9
Eastern Michigan	5-6	12-13
Ball State	4-8	10-14
Northern Illinois	3-9	5-19
Central Michigan	2-10	9-16

QUICK HITS (SIZED FOR YOUR TWITTER ADDICTION)
* Bowling Green plays the first of two consecutive non-conference games as the Falcons host New Orleans Thursday at 7 pm.
* New Orleans is an NCAA Division I independent program moving into the Southland Conference for 2013-14.
* BGSU is 8-3 at home this year, while New Orleans is 0-9 on the road.
* This game marks the first ever meeting between the two programs.
* If the MAC Tournament started today, BGSU would be the No. 5 seed and earn a bye to the second round in Cleveland.
* With four blocks at Akron, Richaun Holmes broke BGSU's single-season record. He has 62 this year.
* A'uston Calhoun has scored in double-figures in 11 straight games.
* Luke Kraus has made 12 of his last 26 three-pointers and was 3-of-5 at Akron Saturday.
* Luke Kraus ranks sixth in the MAC in three-point shooting in conference games only at 42.9 percent.
* BG's A'uston Calhoun and Jordon Crawford are the second-highest scoring duo in the MAC, averaging 30.8 points per contest.
* Richaun Holmes ranks 26th in the country in blocked shots at 2.5 per contest.
* Richaun Holmes has more blocked shots than three MAC teams.
* Richaun Holmes had a career-high 15 points to go with eight rebounds and four blocked shots at Akron.
* BGSU has shot at least 50 percent from the field twice in the past five games after doing it just once in the first 19.
* The Falcons will play at IPFW Saturday 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 TREK OUT OF CONFERENCE TO HOST NEW ORLEANS
Bowling Green gets a respite from Mid-American Conference play with two consecutive non-conference games beginning by hosting New Orleans Thursday at 7 p.m. in a game televised by BCSN. The Falcons are 8-3 in the Stroh Center this year and have a winning percentage of .741 in the facility all-time. New Orleans is looking for its first road win of the season, coming up without a victory in nine attempts thus far.

THE SERIES
Bowling Green and New Orleans meet for the first time in program history Thursday.

LAST GAME: AKRON PULLS AWAY LATE TO EXTEND WIN STREAK
Akron extended its winning streak to a nation's-best 17 games by outscoring BGSU 12-1 down the stretch for a 67-50 victory Saturday. The Falcons trailed by just six points with less than five minutes to play and had four possessions with a chance to get even closer. BGSU missed three shots and turned the ball over once and the Zips made 10 free-throws down the stretch. Richaun Holmes had the best game of his young career, posting 15 points, eight rebounds, four blocks and a steal. With his second blocked shot, he broke the school's single-season record in that statistic and became the first Falcon ever with 60 blocks in a season.

BLOCK PARTY
With four blocked shots at Akron, Richaun Holmes broke the BGSU single-season record of 59, set by Cornelius Cash in 1973-74. Holmes has 62 blocks this year and ranks 26th in the country with 2.5 per game. He has blocked at least four shots seven times this year and ranks fifth in the country in block percentage (percentage of non-three-point shots blocked while on the floor) at 14.3 percent, according to StatSheet.

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 nine games. He scored a career-high 18 points in a win over Kent State and is averaging 9.9 points on 54.4 percent shooting during the stretch. Orr has also made 9-of-17 three-pointers and 18-of-20 free-throws to go with 15 assists and 14 steals. In MAC games only, Orr ranks in the top seven in the conference in field goal percentage and steals.

THE SHOOTING TOUCH
While Chauncey Orr has made 9-of-17 three-pointers over the past nine games, teammate Luke Kraus has turned things around and is shooting even better lately. Kraus has made 12-of-26 three-pointers in the last nine games, connecting on three in a game three times (at Toledo, Northern Illinois and Akron). He ranks sixth in the MAC in three-point shooting in league games only.

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

THE MAC TOURNAMENT
With four league 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. 5 seed and would earn a bye to the MAC Tournament second round in Cleveland. Bowling Green is tied with Kent State and Eastern Michigan, but holds the three-way tiebreak advantage by virtue of a 2-0 record against those teams.

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 SPLITS
Bowling Green's home and away free-throw shooting numbers are eye-popping. On the road, the Falcons have attempted 37 fewer free-throws than opponents have made, shooting just 67.4 percent. At home, Bowling Green has attempted 34 more free-throws than opponents, shooting 72.5 percent at the stripe. In 10 road games, BGSU has been outscored by an average of eight points per game at the free-throw line.

1-2 PUNCH
Senior forward A'uston Calhoun and senior guard Jordon Crawford are currently tied as the second-highest scoring duo in the Mid-American Conference, averaging 30.8 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 tied with Calhoun and Crawford at 30.8 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 10-5 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-25 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 62 blocks, ranking second 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 107-of-119 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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