Bowling Green Hits The Road For Sunday Showdown At South Dakota

Sunday, November 13

Vermillion, SD

4:15 PM

Bowling Green State University

South Dakota

Photo by: Bianca Garza, BGSU Marketing and Communications

November 12, 2016 | Men's Basketball

By: by James Nahikian, BGSU Athletic Communications

BOWLING GREEN STATE UNIVERSITY MEN'S BASKETBALL (0-1; 0-0 MAC)
at
University of South Dakota (1-0; 0-0 Summit League)

Nov. 13, 2016 | 4:15 p.m. ET | Sanford Coyote Sports Center (6,000) | Vermillion, S.D.
Game Notes: Bowling Green | South Dakota
Live Stats | Radio (Todd Walker -- Falcon Radio Network) | VIDEO

OPENING TIP
* Bowling Green is playing its 101st year of basketball this season. The Falcons own an all-time varisty record of 1337-1139, which is good enough for a .540 winning percentage.
* Michael Huger is in his second year at the helm of his alma mater. In his first year as head coach, Huger led the Falcons to a 16-18 record. The season concluded with the program's first trip to the MAC Tournament semifinals since 2009.
* Bowling Green returns eight letterwinners, three starters, and five of its top six scorers from 2015-16. The Falcons return 68.7 percent of its scoring.
* Sunday's game will be the first official game at South Dakota's brand new facility – the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.
* A win would give the Falcons their first victory of the season. BGSU has only won a true road game for its first win of a season two times in the previous 20 seasons. Bowling Green opened the 2014-15 season with a victory at Drake, and its first win of the 1996-97 season came in a season-opening game at James Madison.

THERE'S A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING
Sunday's game will mark the first official game inside of South Dakota's brand new facility – the Sanford Coyote Sports Center. The new state-of-the-art facility seats 6,000 fans, and houses two full-sized practice courts. On Nov. 4, the Coyotes defeated Loras College in an exhibition matchup, but Sunday's game will be the first South Dakota men's basketball game held at the facility. However, Sunday's game won't be the first official South Dakota sporting event held at the facility, as the volleyball team also plays at the arena.

SCOUTING THE SOUTH DAKOTA COYOTES
After knocking off Loras College by a score of 106-76 in an exhibition game on Nov. 11, South Dakota opened up the regular season on Friday (Nov. 11) night with an impressive 79-74 win on the road at Drake. The Coyotes were led in scoring by a couple of impact transfers. Trey Burch-Manning, who played at North Idaho College in 2015-16, led South Dakota with 24 points. He shot 9-of-11 from the floor, including a 2-for-2 mark from three-point range, while also adding 11 rebounds. Matt Mooney, who previously played at Air Force and sat out all of last season due to NCAA transfer rules, poured in 21 points on 8-of-16 shooting. Senior forward Tyler Flack chipped in with a double-double, as he scored 12 points and had 10 rebounds. South Dakota is fielding virtually an entire new roster. The Coyotes have 10 newcomers – seven of which are enrolled at South Dakota for the first time this semester. Third-year coach Craig Smith is a former NAIA National Coach of the Year selection.

A ROAD VICTORY IS RARELY THE FIRST VICTORY
Bowling Green's first win of a season has only come in a true road game two times over the previous 20 seasons. The Orange and Brown opened the 2014-15 season with a 77-58 win at Drake. But before that, that Falcons had not picked up their first victory of a given season on the road since the 1996-97 season, which was the last year of the Jim Larranaga Era. That year, BGSU opened the season with a 104-92 victory at James Madison. Bowling Green went on to secure a bid to play in the NIT that season, and were also the MAC co-champions in the regular season.

LOOKING AHEAD
Bowling Green is opening up the 2016-17 season with back-to-back true road games, which is something that has not been done since the 2003-04 season. After Sunday's game, the Falcons will return to the Stroh Center for five-consecutive home games. The home stand begins with the first day of the Bill Frack Tournament on Nov. 19. The Falcons will take on UMKC, Green Bay and Murray State across the three-day (Nov. 19-21) event.

YEAR TWO OF THE MICHAEL HUGER ERA
After guiding the Falcons to a 16-18 record last season, head coach Michael Huger has begun his second season at the helm of his alma mater. Huger has brought some needed stability to the program, as the 2016-17 season will mark the first time that the Falcons will have a head coach for back-to-back seasons since 2013-14. The former Falcon guard will look to build off an exciting run at last year's MAC Tournament. The Orange and Brown defeated both Kent State and Central Michigan, two team's that beat BGSU twice during the regular season, to advance to the semifinals for the first time since 2009.

FALCONS RETURN YOUNG CORE FOR 2016-17
Bowling Green returns a large portion of last year's team that reached the conference tournament semifinals. Michael Huger has built a strong, and young foundation that will look to continue to improve. Last season, three freshmen – Antwon Lillard, Demajeo Wiggins and Rasheed Worrell – combined to make 38 starts. Additionally, BGSU returns five of last season's top six leading scorers. BGSU returns its top five field goal percentage shooters, as well as its leaders in assists (Ali), blocks (Worrell) and steals (Denny) from a season ago. Furthermore, the Orange and Brown return 74.3 percent of its rebounding and 72.4 percentage of its made three-point field goals from the 2015-16 season.

HUGER'S STAFF: SAME FACE, NEW PLACE
Michael Huger's staff is largely the same, but there are a few staff members that have switched roles for the 2016-17 season. Kevin Noon, who served as the Director of Basketball Operations
last season, was promoted to an assistant coach role after Louis Rowe was named the head coach at James Madison in the offseason. Ryan Kardok, who was the team's video coordinator last year, was also promoted, and will be the team's new director of operations in 2016-17. In addition, Jeff Dyer, who previously worked with Coach Huger as a graduate assistant at the University of Miami, was hired to be the new video coordinator in July. Parker Settle, a recent Cincinnati graduate and student manager, also joins the staff as a graduate assistant, while Rob Whitehurst (athletic trainer) and Kenneth Goodrich (strength) both return.

BGSU'S FURIOUS SECOND-HALF RALLY COMES UP SHORT AT OAKLAND
Bowling Green opened the 2016-17 season with a 78-70 loss at Oakland on Friday (Nov. 11) night. The Falcons trailed by 15 points in the second half, and trimmed the lead down to three points multiple times, but a series of dagger-type threes from Oakland late in the game secured the victory for the Golden Grizzlies. Seniors Wes Alcegaire and Zack Denny led the team in scoring. Alcegaire had 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting, while Denny was 2-for-3 from behind the arc and finished with 15 points. Junior Matt Fox added 10 points himself on 3-of-6 shooting. In his first game as a Falcon, junior Jeffrey Uju hauled in a team-high seven rebounds.

UJU COMES THROUGH IN DIVISION I DEBUT
Junior Jeffrey Uju has never given up, clearly, on his goal to play Division I men's basketball. Uju played his first two seasons of college basketball in the JUCO circuit, and at two different schools, nonetheless. After playing the 2014-15 season at Eastern Wyoming College and the 2015-16 season at Western Texas College, Uju played his first Division I game on Friday (Nov. 11) against Oakland. In 17 minutes, the junior hauled in a team-high seven rebounds, and scored five points on a perfect 2-for-2 night from the floor. Uju also connected on his only three-point attempt, which trimmed a 10-point deficit to single digits in the second half.

BGSU STARTS FRESHMEN BACKCOURT IN SEASON OPENER
Freshmen guards Rodrick Caldwell and Dylan Frye made their first-career starts in BGSU's season-opening loss at Oakland (Nov. 11). Despite an off shooting night from Caldwell, he ran the point calmly, especially given the circumstances of playing in a hostile environment. Caldwell led the team with six assists, and only had one turnover. He also had six rebounds and two steals. Frye also scored his first-career points, as he converted on two free throws. Frye, who played 22 minutes, also notched a steal. Caldwell played 29 minutes, which was second-most on the team.

FALCONS INK FOUR DURING EARLY SIGNING PERIOD
On the eve of the college basketball season (Nov. 10), Bowling Green announced the signing of four future student-athletes to National Letters of Intent. Nelly Cummings (Midland, Pa. / Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School), Joniya Gadson (Fort Lauderdale, Fla. / Dillard High School), Derek Koch (West Salem, Ohio / Northwestern High School) and Daeqwon Plowden (Philadelphia, Pa. / Mastery Charter North School) are set to join the program for the 2017-18 season.

THE FIRST-ANNUAL BILL FRACK TOURNAMENT
In 2014, the BGSU men's basketball program decided to honor Bill Frack – one of the program's biggest fans and supporters, who donated over $20 million to the program before he passed away on May 28, 2014 – by dedicating one game per season to William D. Frack. The game later became known as the Bill Frack Challenge. Over the past two years, the Falcons have hosted Cleveland State (Dec. 13, 2014) and Cincinnati (Nov. 18, 2015) for the annual game. However, this season, BGSU is making the event even larger with the inception of the Bill Frack Tournament. The four-team event will take place from Nov. 19-21, and will feature games against UMKC (Nov. 19), Green Bay (Nov. 20) and Murray State (Nov. 21). For more information on Bill Frack and his impact on the BGSU men's basketball program, visit page 10.

DENNY APPROACHING CAREER MILESTONES
Senior guard Zack Denny is approaching a few significant career milestones. The senior connected on 52 three-pointers in 2015-16, which ran his total to 105 for his career. After nailing two triples in the season-opener at Oakland, Denny is just 15 made three-point field goals shy of tying Jordon Crawford (2009-13) for 10th most all-time in program history. Denny, who has made 52 and 50 three-pointers, respectively, over the past two seasons, would rank sixth all-time if he hit another 50 long balls this season. Denny is also 309 points shy of becoming the 44th player in program history to reach 1,000 career points. The Germantown, Ohio native scored 361 points last season, and 305 points across the 2014-15 campaign.

WES "EVERYDAY" ALCEGAIRE
There was only one player last season that started all 34 games for the Falcons – Wes Alcegaire. The senior returns to the fold this season, and after playing predominately on the wing last year, he'll be penciled in as the team's stretch-forward in 2016-17. Alcegaire, along with fellow senior Zack Denny, led BGSU with 52 three-point field goals in 2015-16. Alcegaire shot 35.5 percent from three-point range in his first season in the Orange and Brown after transferring in from Dayton State College. He began his senior season on a strong note with a team-high 19 points against Oakland (Nov. 11).

THERE'S A NEW FLOOR GENERAL IN TOWN...SORT OF
With the graduation of David Joseph, who started 33 of BGSU's 34 games at point guard a season ago, the Falcons will turn the offense over to senior Ismail "Ish" Ali. Ali played in all 34 games in 2015-16, and averaged 21.1 minutes per game off the bench as a junior, which actually was more than the 20.6 minutes per game that Joseph averaged. So, although Ali only started one game last year, the Falcons' new starting point guard is extremely experienced. Along with averaging 5.4 points, 3.8 assists and 2.1 rebounds in 2015-16, Ali is the only player on the BGSU roster that has had a 10-point game, 10-rebound game, and a 10-assist game. Ali shot 70.1 percent from the free throw line last season, which ranked third on the team.

LILLARD'S STARTING-FIVE, MAC-TOURNAMENT MAGIC
Sophomore guard Antwon Lillard made just three starts last year, but they were Bowling Green's three-most important games of the 2015-16 season. Lillard started all three MAC Tournament games, after being the Falcons' primary scoring option off the bench all season. Lillard took his game to the next level when entering the starting five. In the three games, he shot 62.1 percent (18-of-29) from the field, 50.0 percent (7-of-14) from three-point range, and averaged 17.0 points and 4.7 rebounds per contest. His incredible three-game stretch was highlighted by a 26-point outburst against Central Michigan in the quarterfinals of the MAC Tournament, where he gave the Falcons a one-point victory by nailing a last-second triple. Lillard, who will look to continue the momentum earned from last season's run, is expected to start this season for the Orange and Brown.

RICHAUN HOLMES BEGINS SECOND YEAR WITH THE PHILADELPHIA 76ERS
Richaun Holmes, the 2014-15 MAC Defensive Player of the Year and the 37th overall selection in the 2015 NBA Draft, averaged 5.6 points and 2.6 rebounds while averaging 13.8 minutes across his rookie season with the Philadelphia 76ers in 2015-16. Holmes, the program's all-time leader in blocked shots with 244, earned his second-career NBA start on Nov. 2 against the Charlotte Hornets. Holmes went a perfect 4-for-4 from the field, made his only three-point attempt, and went a perfect 2-for-2 from the charity stripe. He finished the game 11 points, three rebounds, two assists and one block. As of Nov. 12, Holmes has appeared in 58 NBA games. Holmes and the Knicks' Maurice Ndour (Ohio) are the only active players in the league from the Mid-American Conference.

#BGinItaly
Due largely in part to Bill Frack's extreme generosity, financial commitment and unwavering support towards the men's basketball program, the team went on an 11-day cultural immersion tour in Italy from Aug. 8-18. The program spent days in Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan and Lake Como, and saw some of the most famous landmarks in Italian history. The Falcons traveled to The Vatican, spent time inside the Roman Colosseum, visited the Ferrari Museum and saw the famous gondolas in Venice, among many other stops, which include Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon. The Orange and Brown also played four games, and accumulated a 3-1 record while playing professional and national competition.