Falcons Ring In New Year With 68-42 Win At NIU Saturday Evening

Saturday, January 2

DeKalb, IL

6:00 PM EST

Bowling Green State University

7-2,3-0MAC

Northern Illinois

1-7,0-3MAC

Bowling Green

Northern Ill.

January 02, 2021 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: by BGSU Strategic Communications

Box Score

DEKALB, Ill. – The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team moved to 3-0 in Mid-American Conference play on Saturday (Jan. 2) with a 68-42 win at Northern Illinois University. The league game was played inside of the NIU Convocation Center. The Falcons have won their first three conference games in a season for just the fifth time in the last 20 years.

After a slow-paced first half ended with the Falcons leading by a score of 23-18, BGSU broke the game open by shooting 60.0 percent (18-of-30) from the floor over the final 20 minutes. For the game, the Bowling Green defense held the Huskies to 33.3 percent (18-of-54) shooting.

Fifth-year senior Justin Turner led the Falcons with 20 points on 9-of-14 shooting, marking the 45th 20-point game of his collegiate career. Fellow senior Daeqwon Plowden added 12 points and nine rebounds. Trey Diggs (11 points) and Caleb Fields (10 points) scored in double figures for the Orange and Brown, as well.

The Falcons, now 7-2 overall on the season, have won four-straight games against Northern Illinois dating back to 2019. NIU falls to 1-7 (0-3 MAC) on the campaign with the loss. The Falcons and Huskies are scheduled to meet later in the season at the Stroh Center on Jan. 26.

COACH HUGER QUOTE
"I'm proud of our defensive intensity and excited for some guys who stepped up and gave us valuable minutes. NIU is always a terrific defensive team, but we were able to get stops and run in the second half. Once we found rhythm we were able to pull away victorious. We have a cohesive group and that showed in the second half. It's fun watching them cheer for their teammates' success."

6️⃣8️⃣ — Bowling Green
4️⃣2️⃣ — Northern Illinois#AyZiggy // #Team106 pic.twitter.com/IJQsmBJSO1
— BGSU Basketball (@BGSUMHoops) January 3, 2021

TEAM NOTES
• For just the fifth time in the last 20 years, Bowling Green is off to a 3-0 start in MAC play. Two of those seasons – 2018-19 and 2020-21 – have taken place during the Michael Huger Era. Prior to the most-recent success, BGSU's other 3-0 starts over the last 20 years came in 2004-05, 2002-03 and 2001-02.
• The Falcons have won four-straight road games after a season-opening loss to undefeated and ranked Michigan. BGSU is 4-1 on the road in 2020-21.
• Bowling Green and Toledo are tied atop the Mid-American Conference standings with perfect 3-0 records in league play.
• BGSU leads the all-time series between the two schools by a margin of 37-30. The Falcons have won four-straight games over the Huskies dating back to 2019. The stretch includes the 71-67 MAC Tournament win in the conference semifinals on March 15, 2019. Bowling Green is 5-3 against NIU in the Michael Huger Era.
• The Falcons are 95-77 under head coach Michael Huger.
• Dating back to the start of conference play in 2019, the Falcons have racked up a record of 27-12 within the MAC. BGSU is now just one-game under .500 in MAC play at 46-47 during head coach Michael Huger's tenure.
• Bowling Green is 27-17 in the month of January in the Michael Huger Era. BG is 31-24 when playing on a Saturday under Huger.
• The Falcons are 5-0 in 2020-21 when starting a game at 6 p.m. EST or later.
• Bowling Green has won its first two road games on its MAC schedule four different times under head coach Michael Huger. Along with this season, BGSU also started 2-0 on the road in MAC play in 2015-16, 2018-19 and 2019-20.
• The Falcons allowed just 42 points on the evening. The 42 points are the least Bowling Green has allowed in a MAC game since allowing 41 points in a 54-41 league win on Feb. 6, 2013 over Northern Illinois. Overall, the 42 points are the least BGSU has allowed in any game since beating Chicago State by a score of 58-35 on Jan. 3, 2015.
• Bowling Green's defense recorded season bests across the board, limiting NIU to just 18 field goals and two total three-point makes. Northern Illinois' field goal percentage (33.2) and three-point percentage (18.2) marked season bests for the BGSU defense, as well.
• The Falcons limited Northern Illinois to just five assists, which matched a season best for BGSU. The Falcons also held Buffalo to just five assists in the MAC opener. On top of keeping NIU stagnant on offense, Bowling Green turned 18 NIU turnovers into 20 points.
• The Falcons dominated in the paint, scoring 38 points in the paint compared to just 18 for the Huskies. BGSU also had more bench-points (24-10), second-chance points (12-7) and fast-break points (19-4) than NIU.
• Bowling Green dished out 12 assists. The Falcons have posted 12-plus assists in 8-of-9 games in 2020-21.
• BGSU outscored NIU in the second half by a 45-24 margin. On the season, Bowling Green has scored 423 second-half points while limiting its opponent to 313 second-half points. In 6-of-9 games in 2020-21, the Falcons have scored at least 15 more points than their opposition over the final 20 minutes of regulation.
--- By 21 versus South Carolina State (56-35)
--- By 21 points at Northern Illinois (45-24)
--- By 18 points versus Purdue Northwest (48-30)
--- By 18 points at Ohio (51-33)
--- By 16 points at Robert Morris (44-28)
--- By 15 points versus Wright State (46-31)

PLAYER NOTES
• For the 45th time in his historic Bowling Green career, fifth-year senior guard Justin Turner scored 20 points. The Detroit native poured in the 20 points on 9-of-14 shooting. He added three assists and a rebound, as well. Turner has scored in double figures 89 times as a Falcon.
• Turner, who has scored 1,784 points in 103 games, is six points shy of surpassing Antonio Daniels (1993-97 | 1,789 points) for fourth place on BGSU's all-time scoring list. He's 155 points away from becoming Bowling Green's all-time leading scorer. Turner ranks ninth all-time in school history with a 17.3 career scoring average.
• Senior forward Daeqwon Plowden fell one rebound shy of a double-double, finishing with 12 points (4-of-8 FG), nine rebounds, two assists and two steals. Plowden continues to close in on a few career milestones. He's one rebound shy of 600 for his career and needs 39 rebounds to crack the top-15 rebounding list at Bowling Green. Additionally, Plowden is 106 points away from becoming the 49th player in school history to score 1,000 career points.
• Senior forward Trey Diggs led all players with an on-court rating of plus-30. Diggs posted 11 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals. Diggs, who is shooting 48.1 percent (26-of-54) from downtown this season, has converted on multiple three-pointers in 7-of-9 games in 2020-21. The Floridian went 3-for-4 from downtown on the evening. He's made at least three triples in three-straight games and six times overall on the season.
• Junior guard Caleb Fields registered 10 points, five rebounds and two steals. Fields continues his breakout season, as five of his 17 double-figure scoring games in his career have come over the first nine games of 2020-21.
• Freshman wing Josiah Fulcher went 3-for-4 from the floor to tie a career high with six points. Fulcher also had six points in Bowling Green's win over Appalachian State on Nov. 30, 2020. Fellow freshman Cam Young joined Fulcher in the scoring column with five points, while guard Kaden Metheny filled up the stat sheet with two points, four rebounds and three assists.
• Sophomore wing Chandler Turner had two points and one rebound, scoring on his lone shot attempt, which was a nice finger roll in the opening half. Turner played a season-high eight minutes.

NEXT GAME
Jan. 5 | vs. Central Michigan | 6 p.m. | Stroh Center

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