Falcon's Bench Turns Game Around, Keys Victory

It was looking like another one of those paralyzing starts for the Falcons.  Miami had a 10-2 lead just 4 minutes in and then was up 17-8 with 12:24 left.

Something changed.   Coach Orr was careful not to be too explicit in his post-game presser, but what he said, over the course of his remarks, was that the Falcon starters were not playing our style--inside out and good D.  They were firing up shots rather than trying to get the ball inside.  They weren't guarding at all on the other end.

So, Coach brought in a new team off the bench.  Crawford, Kraus, Oglesby, McElroy and Erger.

From there, things turned around.  Coach was explicit on this point.  These guys turned our game around by playing Falcon basketball, by looking to get the ball inside, by getting stops and by playing with energy and tenacity.

And the game turned around.  For the remainder of the first half, Miami scored only 3 points, on a 3-FG with about 7 minutes left.  From the 7 minute mark in, Miami did not score--not a FG, not a FT.  Nothing.

BG went into the locker room up 7.  At no time in the second half did Miami have the ball with the game at one possession.  BG's lead was as large as 12, as low as 3 once, and it was not within 5 in the last 10 minutes.

With 4 minutes left, BG led by 6, still a competitive game.  In the next 3 possessions BG got baskets from McElroy, Thomas and Oglesby (slammer) to compliment 3 stops and it was 12 with 2:something left and the game was over.

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Coach Orr noted a stat that he seemeed to indicate proves the point about how we need to play. In the first half, BG shot 36%, was 1-10 from 3.  In the second half, BG was 1-4 from 3 and shot 55%.

Combine that with the two games where BG won while only attempting 7 3s, and you have a pretty clear evidence.  This team is a lot better when they're not shooting 3s.  And in the second half, that point was pretty clear.

Looking at the Four Factors, Miami held a slight edge in effective field goal percentage thanks to their 7 3-FGs, but that was more than negated by the difference in turnovers, and that was, in fact, one of the differences in the game.  Miami turned the ball over 20 times and BG only 9, which means that no matter how well you shoot, one out of every 3 times they had 0% of a chance to score.

BG controlled a very strong rebounding team and battled them to a draw, and then kept Miami off the free throw line.  The RedHawks tried only 4 free throws, 3 of them on one foul.  Miami has lived getting to the line.  BG was 8-9 and didn't miss for the first time until the last minute.

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It is important to know that this was a very slow paced game.  There were only 60 possessions in the entire game.  BG had 1.03 points per possession, which is consistent with what BG has had during this run of success.  Miami scored only .88 points per possession, which is the fourth best D1 game of the season for BG.

This was truly a victory built on defense.  There were points in the second half when BG's 2-3 zone was stifling, moving from sideline to sideline with incredible tenacity.  Of Miami's 20 turnovers, 11 were steals by BG--steals that led to transition baskets going the other way by the Falcons.  It was the third highest turnover % by a Falcon opponent this year, and BG's steal (18.3%) the third highest D1 rate of the season.

That's pretty good.  When you get a steal in almost one in five possessions.

In the end, Coach Orr said this was a team victory.  And it really was.  Check out the minutes our starters ended up playing:

Thomas (32)
Calhoun (19)
Black (12)
Jakubowski (10)
Brown (15)

In contrast, check out the minutes of the reserves:

Crawford (30)
Kraus (25)
Oglesby (28)
McElroy (21)
Erger (8)

A lot of players contributed to this victory, which is a point Coach made in his post-game presser.

I believe the player of the game was Jordan Crawford.  10 points, 8 assists, 5 steals and 1 turnover.  He added an intangible, too.  The team played with a lot of energy while he was in there.  He has an urgency to his game--on both ends of the floor.

A'uston Calhoun added 11 points and 4 rebounds in those 19 minutes.  He continues to get himself shots inside, and if they start to fall as he matures as a player, he will be a force for this team.

Scott Thomas had 10 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals.

Luke Kraus had 10 points and no turnovers in 25 minutes.

Torian Oglesby had 4 points and 4 rebounds but contributed a lot of toughness and good D on the inside.

Danny McElroy had 9 points on 4-7 shooting, a 3-point play and a key basket in the last 4 minutes.  His game continues to improve gradually.

That is the anatomy of a very nice win at Anderson Arena.  It was throwback day, so general admission seats were $1, and we had our largest crowd in four years.  It was nice to see and I hope it helped the players.

Time will tell how good this Miami team is...and how good ours is.  But Miami is a very solid basketball team with a veteran frontcourt, and while not flawed, this is very good win for our team.