Falcons Win over Raiders. We'll take it

It was for much of the time pretty ugly and for the second straight game, BG did not shoot the ball well at all, but in this game the defense was able to get a few more stops and probably the opponent wasn't quite as good and BG was deadly from the free throw line and all that was enough for the Falcons to grind out a victory over Wright State, 54-41.

I noted in the preview that Wright State likes to play slooooooooow.  They have been playing at 61 possessions a game, which is really slow.  I also predicted BG would fall right in line with that pace, and indeed, the game had only 57 possessions.  Keep that in mind when looking at stats for the game.

The first half of the game was throwback basketball with a 22-22 score at halftime.  With 12 left in the second, WSU had actually taken a 3 point lead.  Then, Richaun Holmes put together back to back old schools 3 point plays and then James Erger hit a 3 and that 3 point WSU lead became a 10 point BG lead in about 3 minutes.

The Raiders are plucky though, and battled back to 44-41 down with 5:47 (corrected) left to play.  At this point, the game was a one possession game.  That was, however, the last time Wright State would score as BG with on a 10-0 run to close out the last nearly 6 minutes and put the victory away.  Calhoun scored 9 of those points including a shot clock beating 3 from the hostess station at the new BW-3.

So, BG found the run it needed when it needed it.  Even though WSU substitutes a lot (like, the Falcon ice hockey team might substitue less), they seemed really tired at the end and BG closed the game out. (Note the very straight line at the end of the game below).

NCAA Basketball

Now, BG had only 54 points, but remember that was in a 57 possession game.  BG actually scored at .95 points per possession, which while not great is not as bad as it might appear.  BG shot poorly again.  We're talking 33% overall and 19% (3 of 16) from 3.  The offensive production can primarily at the free throw line, where BG was 19 of 21 on the night.  In fact, BG had a +14 differential at the line.

BG was was effective on the offensive boards and has a reasonable night on turnovers (12 but remember the low number of possessions) and that all came together to to give BG an offensive night that was only slightly below average.

WSU actually shot the ball better than BG did.  They shot 38% from the field and 43% from beyond the arc.  They were, however, unable to convert that into points because of their struggles with turnovers, their almost complete lack of offensive rebounding and inability to get to the free throw line.

NCAA Basketball Stats

Individually, BG was led by A'uston Calhoun who scored 19 points and had 8 rebounds.  He had a very poor FG shooting night (3-1) but made all 12 of this free throws.  I have no problem with this.  It would be nice if he shot better, but he is going to get fouled (WSU started single teaming him and then moved to double/triple teaming) and if he can score at the line, that's just fine.

Jordon Crawford struggled again, with 11 points on 5-12 shooting and 1-3 from long range.  He also had only 2 assists.

A note here.   For much of the game, our offense was incredibly stagnant.  It seemed like our PG would just dribble around out top until there was 10 left on the clock and then something would be rushed and a jumper taken.  We did not seem comfortable feeding the post and didn't seem to have any idea how to attack the basket.

At one point in the second half, BG went to a lineup of Kraus, Erger, Henderson, Holmes and Calhoun and that actually seemed to help.  Kraus just manages the play and there was no player who was going to try to do too much in that lineup.  (Jehvon Clarke was out with an injury).

Just to say that I think the offensive troubles are systemic.  I give Coach Orr credit for trying anything to get it going.

Richaun Holmes had a very nice night.  He had 9 points, 4 rebounds, 3 blocks in 23 minutes and at least one other play where he didn't get a block but where he completely altered a shot at the rim.  This guy is going to be a very good player, and I just think we gotta get him minutes.  He is energetic and from what the coaches say, he can do things we haven't even seen yet.

Anthony Henderson is similar.  He played 26 minutes and was 2-9 from the field.  He had 4 steals and I like the way he plays.  I think he might turn into shooter, but I think they have to play him.

Sure to inflame the Internet crowd was the 35 minutes Luke Kraus played on 0-7 shooting.  BG was +18 while he was in the game.  He is a defensive player, which is hard to measure (there are other things besides scoring).  He's just in a terrible shooting slump.  He isn't just missing, he is missing badly.  He's a better shooter than this.

So BG goes to 4-4 and 2-4 in D1 games.  Again, this was a team that is probably flawed and we didn't play well on offense....the only worse thing would have been to lose.

One last note....to all of you Wright State fans who seemed indignant that you didn't get the call every time your players flopped around like a walleye in a rowboat, I say this.

You fouled too much, and it got called.  Get over it.   Enjoy the trip home.  You have an excellent shot at making the Horizon League tournament.