Falcons Return Home to Host AAMU on Saturday at 4 p.m.

Saturday, December 6

Bowling Green, Ohio

4:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Alabama A&M

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Photo by: Doug Sampson

December 05, 2014 | Men's Basketball

By: by Kevin Davis, Assistant Director for Athletic Communications

Alabama A&M (1-4, 0-0 SWAC) vs. Bowling Green (4-1, 0-0 MAC)
Saturday, December 6, 2014; 4:00 p.m. ET
Stroh Center (4,347) / Bowling Green, Ohio
LIVE STATS
LIVE AUDIO
LIVE VIDEO
Radio: WFRO-FM 99.1
Twitter: @BGSUMHOOPS
COMPLETE GAME NOTES (PDF)

2014-15 MAC STANDINGS
EAST TEAMS	MAC	OVERALL
Bowling Green	0-0	4-1
Akron	0-0	6-2
Buffalo	0-0	4-2
Kent State	0-0	4-2
Ohio	0-0	2-2
Miami	0-0	2-5
WEST TEAMS	MAC	OVERALL
Eastern Michigan	0-0	7-0
Central Michigan	0-0	5-1
Western Michigan	0-0	5-2
Northern Illinois	0-0	3-2
Toledo	0-0	3-4
Ball State	0-0	2-3

LAY-UPS
* This is the first-ever meeting between BGSU and AAMU on the hardwood.
* BGSU is 2-0 at home this season with wins over Wright State and SEMO.
* BGSU has had at least 8 different players score in each game this season.
* The Falcons have outscored their opponents by 71 points (148-77) in bench points on the year.
* BGSU is coming off its first loss of the season, a 62-52 defeat at WKU on Dec. 3.
* After going 4-0 for the month of November, BGSU is 0-1 thus far in December.
* BGSU has three players averaging over 9.0 points per game on the season.
* Bowling Green is in its 100th season of basketball this year.

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
You can follow the Falcons in many different ways this 2014-15 season. You can follow BGSU via twitter by following @BGSUMHoops and at @BGAthletics. You can also follow BGSU on instagram @bgfalcons and on facebook at BGSU Athletics. As always you can get all your BGSU Athletics information at www.BGSUFalcons.com.

AUTOGRAPH DAY
Saturday afternoon's contest with Alabama A&M will be Autograph Day for the BGSU men's basketball team. At the conclusion of the game, the entire BGSU men's basketball team will be signing autographs on the Northeast concourse in the Stroh Center.

SCOUTING THE ALABAMA A&M BULLDOGS
Alabama A&M enters Saturday's contest with an overall 1-4 record on the season with their lone win coming at home over Oakwood University on Nov. 22. The Bulldogs are 0-3 on the road this season and will be looking to post its first win away from home on the year. AAMU is led by Nicolas West, as the forward leads the team in scoring at 12.4 points per game and in rebounding at 6.6 rebounds per outing. Ladarius Tabb is averaging 9.8 points and 4.5 rebounds per contest for the Bulldogs, as 13 different players have scored on the year. The Bulldogs have been hampered by the turnover bug thus far this season, as AAMU is averaging 17.6 turnovers per game, compared to their opponents 12.2 per contest.

THE SERIES WITH THE BULLDOGS: FIRST-EVER MEETING
This marks the first-ever meeting between Bowling Green State University and Alabama A&M University in men's basketball action.

CURRENT FALCONS VERSUS ALABAMA A&M
No current Falcons have played against Alabama A&M during their intercollegiate careers.

COMMON FOES IN 2014-15
BGSU and Alabama A&M have played one common foe thus far this season in Southeast Missouri (SEMO). The Falcons defeated SEMO 62-54 on Nov. 25 at the Stroh Center. The Bulldogs of Alabama A&M suffered an 85-51 loss to SEMO on the road on Nov. 29. AAMU also opened the season with a 76-52 loss at Dayton on Nov. 14, which is the next opponent on the Falcons schedule.

COACH'S COMMENTS
"It is my first experience playing Alabama A&M too, so I'm not as familiar with the opponent as some games. But obviously like every game where we prepare for our opponent we watch a ton of video and try to learn their personnel, their schemes and the way they play, and try to game plan against it. From the looks of it they are very similar to us in that they have only one guy in double figures, but they have a bunch of guys that are on the stat sheet in terms of minutes played. They play 11 or 12 guys, that average significant minutes, so they actually play more guys than we do. That makes us scout and learn more about more individuals, which is one more task for this game."

"This is the first time we have had to come off a loss this year. We've been talking about learning as we win and obviously coming off the loss we have to learn from our mistakes that we made. We were disappointed after the game and now after watching the video we remain disappointed. Offensively we struggled for most of the night. We had a couple of good stretches, but they weren't very long. When you go on the road and play against a good team, you've got to play well. You have to be tough and you have got to play well. And we didn't do that. It is a long season and I think before the season is over that game is going to help us win future games."

"We are looking forward to being back in front of our home crowd. We are looking forward to playing at home and hopefully we will get some people that want to come out and try to create a home court atmosphere for us on Saturday."

A WIN WOULD ...
* Make BGSU 5-1 to start the season. The five wins on Dec. 6 will be the earliest the Falcons have posted five victories on a season since 2011-12 when BGSU's fifth win came on Dec. 7 versus Malone.
* Give the Falcons its first-ever win over Alabama A&M and an overall 1-0 series lead.
* Make the Falcons 3-0 in home games on the season. The last time that BGSU won its first three home games to start the season was back in 2011-12 when the Falcons won their first three home games against Howard, Austin Peay and Detroit.

BOWLING GREEN RECEIVES VOTES IN MID-MAJOR TOP-25 POLL - DEC. 1
Bowling Green received 36 votes in this week's CollegeInsider.com Men's Mid-Major Top-25 Poll, which was released on Monday, Dec. 1. The Falcons moved up from 17 votes one week ago and currently are only two spots out of the top-25.

IT'S A BLOCK PARTY
In just five games thus far this season, BGSU is averaging 4.8 blocks per game as a team. BGSU posted 11 blocks in the season opener at Drake, registered seven blocks in the home opener versus Wright State and tallied five blocks in the road win at Detroit. Eight different Falcons have recorded at least one block on the year, while Richaun Holmes has already totaled 16 swats for the season.

SUB!!!!!!!!!!!
Coach Jans has proven early that he is not afraid to go to his bench, as 15 different players have already seen time on the floor for the Falcons this season. In fact, the Falcons have outscored their opponents by 71 points (148-77) in bench points this year.

HOME SWEET STROH
BGSU has called the Stroh Center home since the 2011-12 season and has posted an overall record of 32-17 at the venue. The Falcons have won seven or more games at home every season since the Stroh's opening for the 2011-12 season and are 2-0 at home thus far this year.

THAT 70'S STROH
BGSU is a perfect 17-0 at the Stroh when scoring 70 points or more in a contest. That means the Falcons have scored 70 or more points at home in over half of their wins at home in front of the home crowd in the Stroh Center.

HOLMES TABBED MAC EAST PLAYER OF THE WEEK ON DEC. 1
Holmes led the Falcons to two wins last week over Southeast Missouri State and Detroit, and pushed BGSU to 4-0 to start the 2014-15 season. The 6-8 forward led the Falcons in scoring, rebounding and in blocked shots in both contests for the Falcons on the week. For the week, Holmes averaged 20 points, 12.5 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per contest on 61.5 percent shooting from the field overall.

PARKER FINDS THE 3-BALL
Heading into the game at Western Kentucky on Dec. 3, forward Spencer Parker had not made good on a three-pointer all season long and was 0-for-3 on the season from downtown on the season. Against the Hilltoppers, Parker found his stroke, as he hit a career-high four 3-balls from long distance in the game.

HOLMES' HOUSE - POSTS CAREER DAY ON DICK VITALE COURT IN DETROIT
Holmes posted a career day on Nov. 30 at Detroit, in which he matched his career-high in points with 26 and hauled in a new career-high 18 rebounds in the win. On top of his five blocks in the contest, Holmes also hit the game-winning layup as time expired to give the Falcons the 64-63 road win over the Titans. His 26 point/18 rebound performance was his first double-double of the season and the ninth for his career.

OFFENSIVE LULLS HAUNT FALCONS AT WKU
The Falcons, who shot only 34.5 percent overall as a team for the contest at WKU on Dec. 3, suffered from two offensive lulls during the 40 minute affair in the loss. In the first half, the Falcons went a span of 7:31 without a made field goal and only one free throw, and yet still were down just two points when the drought ended. The second lull would come midway through the second half, as BGSU went a total of 5:58 between made baskets from the 10:46 mark to the 4:58 spot in the final half.

HOLMES' HEROICS LIFT FALCONS OVER DETROIT
With 2.2 seconds left on the game clock, Richaun Holmes cut an inbounds pass at the free throw line, turned and took one dribble down the right side of the lane before flipping up a right handed layup that hit off the backboard and fell through the net as time expired to give the Falcons the 64-63 buzzer beating win. In the victory, Holmes matched his career-high of 26 points, on 10-of-12 shooting, and hauled down a new career-high 18 rebounds. He also added five blocks on the defensive end for BGSU.

CONTROLLING THE PAINT AND GLASS
In BGSU's 62-54 win against Southeast Missouri on Nov. 25, the Falcons controlled the paint and dominated the glass on both ends of the floor. BGSU outscored SEMO 36-20 in points in the paint in the win. The Falcons also outrebounded the Redhawks 38-30 for the game and hauled down a total of 15 offensive rebounds, which led to 17 second chance points.

BEWARE: NO FIELD GOALS ALLOWED
In the Falcons' 70-55 win over Wright State on Nov. 19, the BGSU defense held the Raiders without a made field goal for the final 10:10 of the second half of the game. Wright State scored just nine points during that span, all of which came from the free throw line.

HISTORY MADE IN DISMANTLING OF DRAKE
Head Coach Chris Jans recorded his first career win at BGSU in the 77-58 win at Drake on Nov. 15. The win was also Jans' first NCAA Division I career win as a head coach. The season opening road win was also the first season opening true road win for the Falcons since beating James Madison on the road in 1996-97.

PRESEASON LOVE FOR MR. HOLMES
Senior Richaun Holmes received a lot of preseason attention this fall, as the forward was named to a number of preseason teams.
   * 2014-15 MAC East Division All-MAC Preseason Team selection
   * Named to the 2014-15 Preseason All-MAC Team by Athlon Sports
   * Named to the 2014-15 Preseason All-MAC Team by Sporting News
   * Named to the 2014-15 Preseason All-MAC Second-Team by Lindy's Sports
   * Named to the 2014-15 Preseason Mid-American All-Conference
       Second-Team by College Sports Madness (www.collegesportsmadness.com)

RETURN TO SENDER
Falcon senior Richaun Holmes has posted a block in all but one game thus far this season and has totaled a season-high five blocks in three different games this year on his way to a team leading 16 blocks on the season. Holmes totaled a new BGSU school record for the most blocks in a single season last year with 88. In only two-plus seasons at BGSU, Holmes has already become the Falcons' all-time career blocks leader and now has 177 career swats.

EXPERIENCED GROUP
The 2014-15 Falcons' roster is an experienced group, as the roster has 10 upperclassmen, including seven players that have played at least two years of NCAA Division I basketball. BGSU returned one redshirt senior in Anthony Henderson, three seniors in Richaun Holmes, Jehvon Clarke and Damarkeo Lyshe, as well as redshirt-juniors Chauncey Orr and Josh Gomez. On top of that, junior forward Spencer Parker returns along with three junior college transfers in Delvin Dickerson (Paris JC), Jovan Austin (Paris JC) and David Joseph (Howard College), who all were key parts in winning programs at the JUCO level prior to coming to BGSU.

A HANDFUL OF NEWCOMERS
Coach Chris Jans and his staff brought in a handful of newcomers in 2014-15 - five to be exact. Junior college transfers Delvin Dickerson (Houston, Texas/Paris JC), Jovan Austin (Grand Prairie, Texas/Paris JC) and David Joseph (Queens, N.Y./Howard College (Texas)) all joined the BGSU program over the summer and will have two years of eligibility for the Falcons. Freshmen Rasheed Worrell (Coker, Ala./Sipsey Valley H.S.) and Matt Fox (Maumee, Ohio/Anthony Wayne H.S.) will both have four years of eligibility at BGSU heading into the 2014-15 season.

FAMILIAR FACES FOR THE FALCONS
This season, BGSU returns 11 players from last year's roster including four starters in Richaun Holmes, Jehvon Clarke, Spencer Parker and Anthony Henderson. In fact, those four players all averaged over 32.0 minutes per game last season for the Falcons.

FALCONS ON ESPN NETWORKS
The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team is slated to play five games on ESPN3 – Nov. 30 at Detroit at 3 p.m., Dec. 28 at South Florida at 3 p.m., Feb. 4 at Central Michigan at 7 p.m., Feb. 7 at Northern Illinois at 8 p.m., and March 6 at Buffalo at 7 p.m. In addition to the five aforementioned contests, three more games could be televised as part of 21-day Wildcard contests that will air on ESPNU. Those possible games are slated for Friday, Jan. 30 (vs. Akron); Friday, Feb. 13 (at Ball State); and on Friday, Feb. 27 (at Miami).

FALCONS SIGN THREE EARLY
On Nov. 12, BGSU head men's basketball coach Chris Jans announced the signing of Jalone Friday (Oklahoma City Storm HomeSchool/Oklahoma City, Oklahoma), Jamir Andrews (Sheridan College/Dublin H.S./Dublin, California) and Malik Hluchoweckyj (Bellevue West H.S./Bellevue, Nebraska) to National Letters of Intent to continue both their athletic and academic careers at Bowling Green beginning in the Fall of 2015.

FALCONS PICKED FIFTH IN MAC PRESEASON POLL
The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team was picked to finish fifth in the Mid-American Conference East Division in 2014-15, according to the MAC's annual Preseason Media Poll. The Falcons, who will be led by first year head coach Chris Jans in 2014-15, received 52 total points in the preseason poll, which included one first-place vote.

ON TAP FOR THE FALCONS
The Falcons will return to the road and head south down I-75 to face off with the Dayton Flyers on Tuesday, Dec. 9, at 7 p.m. The game is slated to be broadcast by Time Warner Cable Sports Channel (Ohio). BGSU will then return home to host Cleveland State on Saturday, Dec. 13, at 4 p.m. as the inaugural Bill Frack Challenge.

EXTRA HITS
* Autograph Day - Click Here for more information!
* Inaugural Bill Frack Challenge Set for Dec. 13 - Click Here!
* Get your season tickets now - Click Here!
* Want to win a $1,000 Gift Card? Find out how by clicking here!
* Don't forget the Falcon Family 4 Pack - Click Here!
* BGSU Men's Basketball Commercial - Click Here!
* 2014-15 BGSU Men's Basketball Digital Media Guide - Click Here!

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