BG MBB Loses in Athens

BG went down to Athens to play a team with a seven-game winning streak that ended up becoming eight.

OU led pretty much the entire way.  The game was tied twice but BG never led.  Even so, it was a tight and competitive game the whole way.  For the first 30 minutes of the game the lead was never over 6.  OU got it to 7 with 10 left in the game and BG went on a run to cut it to 1.  OU called timeout, got Jason Carter back into the game, and then went on an 8-0 run to expand the lead to 9 with 5:38 left.  BG hung in there, but it was over 10 with about 2 to play.  BG had it down to 4 inside of a minute but that 8-0 had put the better team, playing at home, into the winning position.

BG ended up getting the pace they wanted, at 73 possessions.  BG had a good offensive game at 1.07 points per possession. OU had a better one at 1.17, a number that is almost always marked by a win.

As you can see, shooting and turnovers were essentially even.  That's a victory for BG, given how many turnovers OU has caused this year.  Unfortunately, BG was killed on its defensive boards, did nothing on its own offensive boards, and allowed a very good FT shooting team to get to the line a lot.  OU made 23 out of 30 while BG made 11 out of 15.

OU shot 54% on their 2FGs but their mix was heavily 3FG.  BG made 39% from 3FG, which is pretty good, but only 46% on 2FG in a 2-heavy mix.

Daeqwon Plowden had 18 points, shooting 4 of 10 from 2FG and 2 of 4 from 3FG and added 8 rebounds. Myron Gordon also had 18, shooting 5 of 10 from 2FG and 1 of 1 from 3FG, with 4 assists over 2 turnovers.  He also made all 5 of his FTs.  Brenton Mills had 13 points on 3 of 7 3FG shooting and 2 of 3 2FG shooting. Samari Curtis added 5 assists.

Kaden Metheny did not play with an injury.  Joe Reece played, but was in foul trouble most of the way and logged only 7 minutes. Josiah Fulcher played 9 minutes.

So, BG has UT in Saturday in what might be the toughest week of the season.  After that, they get into a 6-game stretch that they will need to more or less run to get to Cleveland.