Utah Valley Proves Too Tough for Falcons

 Well, warnings were issued.  A very good Utah Valley team came in and was relatively dominant over Bowling Green on its home floor...laying its second-straight home egg.  Ultimately, BG was unable to pay off the K-State upset with a similar effort to be an equally tough team.

The first four minutes were pretty competitive with ties and lead changes--the kind of game I expected to see.

From there, UVU exerted a little control, but the lead stayed generally between 3 and 6.   With 6 minutes left in the half, the lead was 9.

BG had it down to 2 with 2 minutes left, but UVU did what good teams always seem to do...Welling nailed a 3FG, they got a stop and then Welling hit a 2FG to make it a 7 point lead heading into the locker room.

The second half was another matter.  UVU came out and had the lead up to 10 and then led in double digits for the last 15 minutes. The lead was up to 26 and BG went on a 13-2 run to get it to 11, but let there be no doubt, it was a one-sided drubbing.

The Wolverines shot 38% from 2FG and 68% from 3FG in the half.  BG made 3 late 3FGS, before which they were 1-20-something.

While it is tempting to make the shooting the culprit, the issue was defense.  BG allowed 1.14 points per possession.  They are 1-3 this year when allowing more than 1 point per possession, and that was in Manhattan, you saw the shooting we needed to make that happen.

UVU made 36% from 3FG, which is good but not incredible.  However, they shot 70% on 2FG, highlighted by a parade of wide-open back doors and then capped by some press-breaking dunks. That's the #8 highest 2FG shooting percentage for UVU in their D1 era.

BG made 61% on 2FGs, which is good, but 17% from 3FG and way worse for most of the game.  BG had a slight turnover advantage, but allowed UVU a big day on the offensive boards---almost as good as K-State had.

Javonte Campbell carried this team's attack on its back for much of the way.  He ended up with 24, on 8 of 12 and 1 of 2 shooting, 5 of 7 at the line, 5 assists, 3 steals, a block and 2 TOs.

Josiah Shackleford, who has been struggling, came off the bench with 13, on 4 of 7/1 of shooting, 4-4 at the line. Also 3 steals and 3 turnovers. Sam Towns led the team with 6 rebounds but was 3 of 8 and 0 of 5 shooting. Ruffin was 0 and 5 from 3FG and Wol was 2 of 7.

So there we go.  Finals week coming up and then Chicago State in town a week from Tuesday.  The boys are up 35 on the mighty Aquinas at halftime as we speak in one of our 3 non D1 games on the schedule.  The Saints play in the NAIA.

BG is 5-3.