Falcons Open Critical Stretch At Ohio Saturday

BGSU at Ohio
Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013; 2:00 p.m.
Convocation Center (13,168) / Athens, Ohio
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COMPLETE GAME NOTES (.PDF)

2012-13 MAC STANDINGS
EAST TEAMS	MAC	OVERALL
Akron	9-0	18-4
Ohio	7-1	16-6
Bowling Green	4-5	9-13
Buffalo	3-6	8-15
Kent State	3-6	12-11
Miami	3-6	8-13
WEST TEAMS	MAC	OVERALL
Western Michigan	7-2	15-7
Toledo	6-3	10-10
Eastern Michigan	4-4	11-11
Northern Illinois	3-6	5-16
Ball State	2-7	8-13
Central Michigan	2-7	9-13

QUICK HITS (SIZED FOR YOUR TWITTER ADDICTION)
* Bowling Green takes a two-game winning streak into Athens Saturday to face second place Ohio at 2 p.m.
* Ohio is 12-1 at home and BGSU is 1-8 on the road but the Falcons won their first road game Wednesday at NIU.
* Bowling Green is 72-60 all-time against Ohio. The teams split two games last year, each winning at home.
* If the MAC Tournament started today, BGSU would be the No. 5 seed and earn a bye to the second round in Cleveland.
* In nine road games, BGSU has attempted 64 fewer free-throws than their opponents, also making 64 fewer.
* BGSU has 23 steals in the past two games, the most since posting 27 in back-to-back games in December of 2010.
* Chauncey Orr has made 9-of-15 three-pointers and Luke Kraus has made 8-of-15 in the past six games.
* Richaun Holmes scored a career-high 11 points in Wednesday's win over Northern Illinois.
* BGSU held NIU to 27.5 percent shooting, the lowest for a BGSU Division I opponent since Fordham shot 23.8 percent on 12/5/09.
* BG's A'uston Calhoun and Jordon Crawford are the second-highest scoring duo in the MAC, averaging 30.9 points per contest.
* Richaun Holmes ranks 23rd in the country in blocked shots at 2.5 per contest.
* With 56 blocks, Richaun Holmes needs four more to post the highest single-season total in program history.
* Richaun Holmes has more blocked shots than four MAC teams.
* BGSU has committed a MAC-low 12.2 turnovers per game.
* BGSU has won four games this year when shooting below 40 percent from the field.
* A'uston Calhoun has scored in double-figures in eight straight games.

FALCONS OPEN CRITICAL STRETCH AT OHIO SATURDAY
Bowling Green begins a stretch of games against the top three teams in the Mid-American Conference standings, two on the road, with a game Saturday at second-place Ohio at 2 p.m. The Falcons have won two in a row, including picking up their first road victory of the year, to climb into sixth place in the MAC standings. Following Saturday's game, Bowling Green will host third-place Western Michigan before playing at MAC leader Akron the following Saturday.

THE SERIES
Bowling Green is 72-60 all-time against Ohio and the two programs have held serve at home in each of the last three years. The Falcons last won in Athens during the 2008-09 season when BGSU beat Ohio three times (twice in the regular season and then in the MAC Tournament quarterfinals). BGSU Head coach Louis Orr is 7-4 in his first five years leading the Falcons against Ohio.

LAST GAME: BG DEFENSE STIFLES HUSKIES FOR ROAD WIN
Bowling Green held Northern Illinois to 28 percent shooting as the Falcons won on the road for the first time this year, defeating the Huskies 57-41 in DeKalb, Ill. BGSU jumped out to a 30-10 lead and pushed that advantage to 27 points in the second half before NIU closed the gap down the stretch. A'uston Calhoun had his fourth double-double of the year with 15 points and 12 rebounds, while Richaun Holmes added a career-high 11 points. Luke Kraus had nine points on three three-pointers and grabbed five rebounds. The Falcons had 10 steals in the contest, giving the team 23 over the past two games.

BLOCK PARTY
With three blocked shots against Northern Illinois, Richaun Holmes now has 56 on the season and is just three away from tying the BGSU single-season record of 59 set by Cornelius Cash in 1973-74. Holmes is 23rd in the country with 2.5 blocks per game and has blocked at least four shots six times this year. According to StatSheet, Holmes ranks second in the country in block percentage at 15.4 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 four of the past six games. He scored a career-high 18 points in a win over Kent State and is averaging 11.2 points on 61 percent shooting during the stretch. Orr has also made 9-of-15 three-pointers and 8-of-10 free-throws to go with seven assists and six steals.

THREE'S THE KEY
While Chauncey Orr has made 9-of-15 three-pointers over the past six games, teammate Luke Kraus has been almost as strong during that time frame. Kraus has made 8-of-15 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 18 of the team's 22 games this year, including 9-of-13 losses. Seven times, Bowling Green has had possession in the final 10 seconds of those losses with a chance to win or tie.

CHAIRMEN OF THE BOARDS
Bowling Green is 6-1 when outrebounding its opponent this year. The Falcons snapped a stretch of being outrebounded in five consecutive games when the team held a 30-26 advantage against Ball State this past Saturday.

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.

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.

PLUS/MINUS
Although none of them rank among the top two on the team in scoring, Anthony Henderson, Richaun Holmes and Chauncey Orr may have had the largest impact on the success of the team so far this year. Bowling Green has outscored its opponents by 25 points when Henderson is on the floor, 23 when Holmes is on the court and 13 when Orr is on the floor. Those are the top three plus/minus ratings on the Falcons this year.

THE MAC TOURNAMENT
With seven 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. 5 seed and would face the winner of No. 8 seed Kent State and No. 9 seed Buffalo in the second round. BGSU is just 1/2 game behind Eastern Michigan (and holds the tiebreak) for the No. 4 seed, which would earn byes through the first two rounds.

NOT QUITE FREE
Bowling Green has been one of the better free-throw shooting teams in the Mid-American Conference this year, but that has not translated to the road. The Falcons are shooting just 65.4 percent on the road, compared to 72.5 percent at home. But even if BGSU were shooting well on the road, the Falcons would still be facing an uphill battle as the team has attempted just 107 free-throws in nine road games, 64 fewer than their opponents. In fact, BGSU's opponents have made 27 more free-throws than the Falcons have even attempted on the road.

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 30.9 points per game. Toledo's Rian Pearson and Julius Brown lead the way at 32.0 points, while Kent State's Chris Evans and Randal Holt are third at 30.7 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 0-9 this year when opponents score at least 68 points and 9-4 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 7-3 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 19-7 record in the Stroh Center comes out to a .731 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 8-0 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 and Ball State 70-59 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 38-9 in Orr's five years at Bowling Green when reaching that total. BG shot 50 percent from the field twice this year, losing at Miami and defeating Ball State at home.

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 19-of-22 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 56 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.

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 104-of-116 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 three 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. 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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