Falcons Set for MAC East Road Clash at Miami (Ohio) on Saturday, Feb. 6

Saturday, February 6

Oxford, Ohio

3:30 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

Miami

Photo by: Larry Clapper

Falcons Set for MAC East Road Clash at Miami (Ohio) on Saturday, Feb. 6

February 05, 2016 | Men's Basketball

By: by Kevin Davis, Assistant Director for Athletic Communications

GAMEDAY CENTRAL

Bowling Green (13-9, 4-5 MAC) vs. Miami (Ohio) (7-15, 1-8 MAC)
Saturday, Feb. 6, 2016 * 3:30 p.m.
Oxford, Ohio * Millett Hall

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STARTING FIVE
(1) IT'S GOOD TO BE ON THE ROAD: The Falcons have been road warriors thus far this season, as head coach Michael Huger's squad is 6-3 overall in true road contests thus far this season. BGSU is 3-1 in MAC road contests on the year and have won four of its last five games on the road this season.

(2) DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE: The Miami RedHawks have been a whole different team at home in Millett Hall this season. All seven of the RedHawks' wins on the year have come on their home floor in Oxford, Ohio, as Miami is 7-6 at home this season. MU is averaging 65.6 points per game at home this year compared to just 61.6 points per game on the road.

(3) NO NEED TO PANIC: BGSU enters Saturday's MAC contest at Miami (Ohio) on a two-game losing streak. However, the Falcons are not panicking as BGSU has not lost more than two games in a row this season. In fact, the Falcons have won either on the road or at a neutral site all three times this season that they have faced the chance of a three-game losing skid.

(4) MAC EAST PLAY: The Falcons will be playing just their fourth MAC East Division contest on Saturday at Miami. BGSU is 2-1 thus far this season versus the MAC East Division with a home win over Miami (Jan. 6) and a road victory at Ohio (Jan. 12).

(5) WITHIN REACH OF 1,000: Spencer Parker is looking to become just the 43rd player in BGSU men's basketball 100-year history to score over 1,000 career points as a Falcon. The senior from Detroit, Mich. enters Saturday's game with 983 career points, only 17 shy of the career milestone.

(6th man) CENTENNIAL SEASON: The 2015-16 is the Centennial Season for the BGSU men's basketball program, which began playing basketball in 1915-16.

SCOUTING THE REDHAWKS OF MIAMI (OHIO)
The RedHawks of Miami (Ohio) will look to bounce back from a road lost to Eastern Michigan on Tuesday, Feb. 2, with a home contest versus BGSU on Saturday, Feb. 6. The RedHawks are 7-6 overall at home in Millett Hall this season. Miami, who is 7-15 overall and 1-8 in MAC play, will look to start the second half of the conference slate with a win in attempt to finish the regular season out strong. Miami is ranked fourth in the MAC in free throw percentage at 72.5 percent and in scoring defense by holding its foes to just 68.9 points per outing. However, Miami is last in the MAC in scoring offense with an average of just 64.0 points per game, last in field goal percentage shooting just 40.9 percent overall on the season and last in rebounding with 32.2 boards per contest. The RedHawks are led by Eric Washington and Geovonie McKnight who are averaging 14.9 and 12.8 points apiece, respectively. The duo combined for 36 of Miami's 62 points in the previous meeting versus Bowling Green on Jan. 6.

REDHAWKS' LEADER SET TO RETURN
The RedHawks' leader in scoring, assists and steals is set to return to action on Saturday, Feb. 6, versus the Falcons. Senior Eric Washington was suspended for the RedHawks' last game at Eastern Michigan on Feb. 2, for a violation of team rules. Washington had missed the previous two games versus Central Michigan and Northern Illinois with a lower leg injury, He was expected to return to the starting lineup against the Eagles before the suspension. The South Carolina native leads Miami with 14.9 points, 4.2 assists and 1.4 steals per contest.

ALL-TIME SERIES BETWEEN BGSU AND MIAMI (OHIO)
The two MAC East Divisional foes have played each other 135 times thus far in this long standing conference rivalry with Miami leading the overall series at 81-54. Miami has won five of the last eight meetings between the two teams, however, the Falcons have won each of the last two contests, including a 62-57 in Oxford, Ohio on Feb. 28, 2015 of last season. BGSU defeated the RedHawks 73-62 in the two teams' MAC opener earlier this season on Jan. 6 inside the Stroh Center in Bowling Green, Ohio.

SINCE THE LAST MEETING BETWEEN THE TWO JUST ONE MONTH AGO
Since these two teams last met on Jan. 6, 2016, in which the Falcons beat the RedHawks 72-63 in the Stroh Center in the two teams' MAC opener, both teams have struggled to string together a series of wins. BGSU has gone 3-5 overall since defeating Miami on Jan. 6, including have lost four of those five contests at home. The Falcons have gone 3-1 on the road since then. Miami has just 1-7 overall since falling on the road to the Falcons with the lone win coming over Northern Illinois, 72-59, at home on Jan. 30.

COACH'S CORNER
"Next up for our team is a road game at Miami. Our guys have played well on the road this season, and we will look to get back to our winning ways in Oxford. Miami has changed some of their offense and defense since the last time we competed against them. We are expecting a hard fought game from start to finish. Most teams go through a mid-season funk, we are looking to break out of ours and finish the regular season on a strong note."

UP NEXT FOR THE FALCONS
BGSU will return home for two straight contests versus Akron and Western Michigan. The Falcons will host the Akron Zips on Tuesday, Feb. 9, at 7 p.m. BGSU will then welcome Western Michigan to the Stroh Center on Saturday, Feb. 13, at 2 p.m. as part of a BGSU basketball doubleheader with the women's basketball team.

A FALCON WIN WOULD ...
* Put the Falcons at 14-9 overall on the season.
* Bounce BGSU back up to .500 in MAC play at 5-5 in conference only game on the year.
* Push the Falcons' road record to 7-3 overall in true road contests on the season.
* Give BGSU an overall record of 3-1 versus the MAC East Division on the year.
* Start the Falcons off at 1-1 for the month of February.
* Snap a two-game losing streak.
* Hand BGSU a regular season series sweep of the RedHawks for the first time since 2011-12.
* Extend the Falcons' winning streak to three straight games over Miami (Ohio).

LAST TIME OUT - BALL STATE 72, BGSU 64 (FEB. 2)
The Falcons got a double-double from junior Zack Denny and held Ball State without a point for nearly 10 minutes midway through the contest, yet struggled to find its offense in the second half to fall to the Cardinals 72-64 in MAC play on Tuesday night, Feb. 2, in the Stroh Center. The game was a tale of two completely different halves for the Falcons, as BGSU shot 14-of-26 (53.8 percent) in the first half and outscored the Cardinals 40-33 over the first 20 minutes of play. Yet in the second half, BGSU was just 4-of-22 (18.2 percent) shooting and made just one field goal over the final 13 minutes of the contest. The Falcons held the Cardinals scoreless for the final 4:34 of the first half and for the first 5:17 of the second half of play to go on a 19-0 run to pull out to a 14-point lead with 15 minutes left in the contest. For the first time in MAC play this season, the BGSU bench was outscored for the contest, as Ball State held a 19-16 advantage in bench points on the night. Bowling Green shot just 37.5 percent (18-of-48) for the game overall, while Ball State shot 53.2 percent (25-of-47) overall and was 10-of-19 (52.6 percent) from behind the three-point line. The Falcons made 22-of-32 (68.8 percent) free throws on the night, which was more free throws than the Cardinals attempted as the visitors were just 12-of-20 (60 percent) from the charity stripe for the game.

PARKER APPROACHING 1,000
Senior Spencer Parker is quietly approaching the 1,000 career points mark in his final year at BGSU. He enters Saturday's contest with 983 career points, just 17 points away from the career milestone. Parker, who is averaging 13.6 points per game this season, would need to average 1.9 points per game over the remaining nine regular season games for BGSU to reach the mark and become just the 43rd player in BGSU history to score over 1,000 career points.

MAC WILDCARD SELECTION
Bowling Green's road contest at Buffalo on Saturday, Feb. 20, was selected as the MAC Wildcard and will be televised by BCSN and Time Warner Cable Sports. ESPN3 will also cover the game. The start time was moved to 12 p.m. (noon) in Buffalo, N.Y.

SOLID START A NECESSITY
BGSU has relied on solid starts this season, as the Falcons are 10-1 on the season when leading at the halftime break. Bowling Green is just 3-7 on the season when going into the locker room trailing at the halftime intermission and 0-1 on the year when tied at the half.

LINE OF DEFENSE = UTMOST IMPORTANCE
The defense has been vital to the Falcons success this season, as BGSU is just 1-9 on the season when its opponent records a higher field goal percentage than the Falcons for the game. While on the flip side, BGSU is 12-0 when shooting better from the floor than its foe and is a solid 8-1 overall when holding its opponent to less than 40 percent shooting for the game. The Falcons are 8-1 when limiting their opponents to 69 points or less for the contest, but are 0-4 when allowing their opponents to score 80 points or more for the game.

RESILIENT FALCONS
The Falcons have proved to be "fighting" Falcons throughout the 2015-16 season, as Coach Huger's squad have trailed by five points or more in six of their 13 wins this season. In fact, BGSU have been behind on the scoreboard in 11 of their 13 wins on the year. In two of their last three wins, the Falcons have erased a double digit deficit for a come from behind win. BGSU deleted a 14-point deficit at Ohio to defeat the Bobcats 91-75 on Jan. 12. The Falcons most recently overcame a 10-point deficit at Western Michigan to upend the Broncos 79-78 in Kalamazoo, Mich. on Jan. 26.

KEY IS CLEANING THE GLASS
BGSU has done well this season when out-rebounding its opponents for the game. In fact, the Falcons are a stellar 12-2 when grabbing the same number or more rebounds than their foes in a game this season. The Falcons are just 1-7 on the year when losing the battle of the boards with the lone win coming versus Miami (Ohio) at home on Jan. 6, 2016.

SHARP SHOOTING FALCONS
The Falcons have shot over 44 percent from the floor as a team in each of their 13 wins this season, including shooting a season-high 55.7 percent overall from the field in the blowout win over Urbana on Nov. 29. The Falcons are also a perfect 12-0 on the season when shooting better than their opponents from the field as a team overall.

GETTING TO THE CHARITY STRIPE
Bowling Green has made it a habit to get to the free throw line this year, as the Falcons have shot more foul shots than their opponents in 15 of their 22 games this season. BGSU has attempted 20 or more free throws in 18 games on the year, including a season-high 35 attempts at Detroit on Dec. 12. The Falcons have made more free throws than their opponents have even attempted in seven different contests this season.

BENCH HELP
The BGSU bench has been big for the Falcons thus far in MAC play, as Coach Huger's subs have outscored their opponent's bench in seven of the nine conference contests with the Falcons matching the Eastern Michigan Eagles at 10 bench points apiece in the other game. In league play, BGSU has totaled 220 bench points, an average of 24.4 points per game. Their opponents have combined to score at total of 113 bench points, an average of 12.6 per contest.

ANSWERING THE CALL
BGSU's Matt Fox was ready when his name was called on Jan. 26, at Western Michigan. Fox, who had not played in each of the Falcons' first six MAC games and last saw playing time on Jan. 2 versus Oakland City, knocked down two three-pointers in the final 3:45 of the tight contest versus the Broncos to help BGSU pick up the 79-78 road win. Fox's first trey tied the game up at 68-68 with 3:45 left to play. His second three-ball gave the Falcons a 77-74 lead with 53 seconds to play in the contest, a lead that BGSU would not surrender in the win.

A STROH CENTER ANOMALY
An anomaly occurred in the Stroh Center on Jan. 19, as the Falcons suffered a loss at home despite scoring over 70 points for the game in the 81-74 defeat to the Rockets. The loss is only the second ever loss inside the Stroh Center for the Falcons when scoring over 70 points for the game. The only other loss in which the Falcons scored over 70 points in the Stroh Center was to Kent State, 81-80, last year on Senior Night, Mar. 3, 2015. BGSU is 25-2 all-time in the Stroh Center when scoring 70 points or more for the contest.

DOUBLE-DOUBLE TROUBLE
The duo of Zack Denny and Spencer Parker have each tallied multiple double-doubles this season and have combined for nine double-doubles on the year overall. Denny recorded his six double-doubles with 17 points and 11 rebounds in the win over YSU, followed by 18 points and 11 rebounds in the win over the FGCU Eagles. He then tallied 13 points and 10 rebounds in the road win at Cleveland State to close out the month of December and then totaled 15 points and 10 rebounds in the very next game versus Oakland City (Ind.). He picked up 12 points and 10 rebounds in the road win at Ohio on Jan. 12 and then registered 20 points and a career-high 13 rebounds in the home contest versus Ball State on Feb. 2. Parker has registered three double-doubles this season with 16 points and 12 rebounds versus North Dakota, 22 points and 10 boards in the win at FGCU and a career-high 33 points and 11 rebounds at Detroit.

MINUTES, MINUTES, EVERYONE GETS MINUTES!
A total of nine players are averaging double digit minutes of playing time on the court thus far this season for the Falcons. In fact, at least nine different players have notched 10 minutes or more of playing time in 13 different games for the Falcons this season. Six different Falcons are averaging 20 minutes or more of playing time on the year.

SPENCE LEADING BY EXAMPLE
As the most experienced player on the Falcons' roster, senior forward Spencer Parker has been leading by example with career numbers this season. Parker leads the team in scoring with an average of 13.6 points per game and is second in rebounding with 5.6 rebounds per game, both of which are career highs. He has scored in double figures in 16 games and has already posted five 20-plus point games with 22 points at FGCU, 20 points versus UMBC, a career-high 33 points at Detroit, 22 points at Ohio and 21 points on the road at EMU.

DENNY DIALING IN FROM LONG DISTANCE
This season, Zack Denny is shooting a career-high 41.0 percent from behind the three-point line and leads the team with 43 made treys on the season. The junior guard is shooting 40.5 percent overall from long distance for his career, as he is 96-of-237 from long range, which has him currently ranked fifth in career three-point field goal percentage. He has also made at least one three-pointer in 18 of 22 games this season for the Falcons and has made multiple treys in 11 different games on the year.

TWO GOING FOR 20-PLUS
With Spencer Parker's 21 points and Zack Denny's 20 points in the road win at Eastern Michigan on Jan. 16, the duo became the first pair of Falcons to score 20 points or more in the same game since BGSU's Anthony Henderson and Jehvon Clarke each poured in 23 points at Toledo on Feb. 5, 2014.

HUGER FIRSTS ON THE SIDELINE
BGSU first-year head coach Michael Huger picked up his first career win as a head coach in the 79-61 win over New Orleans in the season opener. His first MAC win as a coach with the Falcons' 73-62 home win over Miami (Ohio) in the two teams' conference opener on Jan. 6, at the Stroh Center. He recorded his first MAC road win at Ohio, 91-75, on Jan. 12.

10 POINT POSSESSION
BGSU recorded a 10-point possession in only 37 seconds late in the second half in the win over Ohio on Jan. 12. The Falcons got a three-pointer from Ismail Ali (3), who was also fouled on the play. After the foul, a scuffle ensued with both teams which drew four technical fouls, three to Ohio and one to BGSU. With the technical fouls, BGSU got four free throws on top of Ali's foul shot from being fouled on the play. Ali hit his free throw from the foul (4) and then calmly knocked down 3-of-4 attempts from the Ohio technical fouls (7). BGSU then got the ball out of bounds, where Zack Denny abruptly drove down the lane, hit the layup (9) and was fouled on the play. He then drained the free throw (10) to cap of the possession. BGSU is 9-2 on the season when making more free throws than its opponent compared to just 3-4 overall when its foe makes more free throws than them for the game.

NON-CONFERENCE WINS
The Falcons finished their non-conference regular season slate with a 9-4 record this season. The nine non-conference wins, not including postseason play, are the most by a Falcons' team in a single season since posting 10 non-conference wins in 2006-07.

GRABBING 50
For the first time in eight years, the Falcons as a team reached the 50 mark in rebounds in a single game. BGSU pulled down a season-high 50 rebounds in the win over Oakland City (Ind.) on Jan. 2, 2016. The last time a Falcons' squad totaled 50 rebounds or more was back in the 2008-09 season, when BGSU hauled in 50 boards versus Detroit on Dec. 14, 2008.

CAPTAINS NAMED FOR 2015-16
The Falcons have three team captains for the 2015-16 season in junior JD Tisdale, junior Wes Alcegaire and redshirt-sophomore Garrett Mayleben.

A FALCON NOW LEADING THE FALCONS
It seems fitting that a former Falcon would lead the program during its Centennial Season, as former BGSU standout and 1994 graduate Michael Huger returns to his alma-mater as the head coach in 2015-16. Huger, who returns to where he was a standout player for the Falcons from 1989-93. While a player at BGSU, Huger helped the Falcons to a pair of NIT appearances. Tabbed the BGSU Team MVP in 1992-93, he earned all-conference honors in his final two seasons, and was a Naismith Award nominee and the runner-up for MAC Player of the Year his senior year.

WATCH ME: BGSU ON ESPN3, BCSN AND THE TWC SPORTS CHANNEL
Every Falcons' home game over the 2015-16 season will broadcast live on ESPN3. A number of road contests will also be video steamed live over the ESPN3 network, while the Falcons will also still appear locally on the Buckeye Cable Sports Network (BCSN) as well as the Time Warner Cable Sports Channel (TWCS). Of the remaining games left this season, BGSU will be on BCSN and TWCS on Feb. 20 at Buffalo and on Mar. 1 at Kent State. A number of other BGSU games could be chosen for TV by either ESPN or the CBS Sports Network throughout the season as wildcard selections.

PICKED TO FINISH SIXTH IN THE MAC EAST IN PRESEASON POLL
With the loss of its top three scorers from last season in Richaun Holmes to the NBA, and both Jehvon Clarke and Anthony Henderson due to graduation, the Falcons were picked to finish sixth in the MAC East Division in the 2015-16 MAC Men's Basketball Preseason Poll, which was determined by a 23-member MAC News Media Panel. The Falcons garnered 42 points overall.