Falcons Beat Cleveland State MBB

BG ended a three-game homestand with a good victory over the Cleveland State Vikings...a struggling program you would expect to beat and one we did beat.  BG won 72-58 (sorry, the original version had a typo in the score)...if you're worried about the margin, UT beat them by 15 at Savage and BG is playing without its best player.  There were a couple of things that were concerning...which I will discuss...but by and large BG did what should be done and we're never sorry to win.

After a close start, BG had the lead in double figures 8 minutes into the first half.  With 8 minutes left Ziegler hit a couple FTs to put BG up 10 and the game was never closer than 10 after that.  The lead was 24 (game high) with 11 minutes left.  Here, BG's play seemed to go to sleep and CSU went on a 16-4 run to cut the lead to 13 with just inside 5 minutes to play.  The lead stabilized from there and BG closed the game out.

The worrisome part was BG's response to full-court pressure that CSU employed during that run.  It was cringe-worthy.  BG tried to dribble the ball up against a double team, didn't seem to have anyone coming to help the ball, made tentative passes and when they did break the press they didn't convert the basket at the rim.  It was pretty ugly.  The good news is that having identified that, BG has a chance to fix it on the practice floor.  I would be surprised if Norfolk State does not press BG on Friday in AC.

The preview noted that CSU was a poor offensive team and that certainly held true.  The Vikings scored .82 points per possession, which is even below their average.  (That's just an incredibly difficult number to win with.  Since 2002, BG has won only 11 games scoring under .9)

We had noted how poorly they shot the 3, and they shot only 5 of them in the entire game.  That was 9.8% of their FG attempts, the lowest 3FG attempt-rate I can find, going back to 2002.  They shot 50% from 2FG, which is a little above average but nowhere near good enough if that's the only shots you are taking.  They also turned the ball over 31% of the time and shot 45% from the FT line.

BG had a decent offensive game at 1.02 per possession.  They shot better than they have been, making 52% from 2FG and 39% from 3FG.  BG did turn the ball over more than they have been, mostly during the press struggles.  BG did not get to the line as much but 11 of 15 and ended up +2 at the line with 5 fewer attempts.

The biggest issue was offensive rebounding.  BG was OK on the offensive boards...the D1 average is 28%, but CSU had a big game on the offensive boards.  The Falcons seemed to not box out at times and CSU took advantage with their best offensive rebounding game of the year.  Note that you have those second chance points and you still only shot 50% on 2FGs.

Individually, you have to take notice of Daeqwon Plowden.  He seemed to really turn a corner toward the end of last year....he didn't start out great this year as a scorer, but his last two games have shown how much he has developed as a player.  He scored 23 points...on 11 of 13 shooting and 1 of 2 from 3FG.  That's about as good an offensive performance as you can have.  He had 4 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 steals as well.

So, now picture getting Turner back healthy, and you have Frye, Plowden and Diggs complimenting him on the offensive end.

Dylan Frye had 11 points on 4 of 9 and 2 of 5 from 3FG.  He had 8 assists but 7 turnovers as his stat line bore the brunt of the struggles with the press.  He also played great defense.

A quick note.  One of the things I really enjoy is watching players develop--something you see less of as teams rely more on transfers and as players leave to transfer.  Both Plowden and Frye have really developed as players and it has been fun to watch them keep getting better.

Trey Diggs also had 10 on 4 of 8 and 2 of 5 shooting.

BG is playing a small lineup.  They had a true 5 in the lineup for only 16 minutes.  That might have impacted the rebounding issues, but I honestly think we could have kept that team off the boards with our smaller lineup.  The larger issue is whether that is sustainable moving into conference play.  We have been playing teams without true 5s over the past couple games.

BG is 8-2 and heading to a tournament where they would be expected to pick up a couple more wins.  On average, they should enter MAC play 11-2 and start a big one hosting Kent at the Stroh on January 3.  Given the wins in the Virgin Islands and the overall record, you have to be happy with how things are going.  Winning the MAC is going to be a dogfight, for sure.