Falcons Open the MAC Season on road with win

Bowling Green went to Buffalo last night, and picked up a double OT win that is pretty big for where we are right now.

There are a few reasons for that.

First of all, while I think it was clear when we previewed the Buffalo team that they didn't have any real quality wins yet, and thus you didn't know what you had, they were a surprise team that was playing pretty well.

Second, the East division is very tough.  Kent and Akron appear to be the best teams in the MAC, OU won last year, and Miami is directed by The Evil Genius and is always lurking in the shadows with a handkerchief soaked in chloroform.  So, when you play Buffalo, you'd like to win.

Third, it was a road win.

Fourth, it was a game that we easily could have folded in, and did not.  It is our first win when we trailed at halftime this season.

In terms of the game flow, Buffalo was up by 8 with just under 5 minutes left to play in the first half and they led by 6 at the half.  BG came bolting out of the gate on an 8-2 run and had the game tied before the first media timeout.  It was close and tense for the remainder of the half, with the game within one possession either way almost the entire time.

BG had plenty of opportunities to win the game in regulation.  The Falcons were up 2 and UB had the ball and Thomas got a steal with :18 left and was fouled.  He had the chance to lose it out, but missed the front end of a 1-1.  Cam Black committed a foul with :05 left, and Mulkey obliged by missing the FT.  Once again, the game should really be over.  We did not box out, UB got the board, and Calhoun fouled, and this time UB hit both free throws to force overtime.

Ouch.

Similarly, in the first overtime, BG was up by 2 with :16 left, and got Buffalo to miss on the offensive end but once again BG failed to control the rebound and UB got a field goal to tie the game in the closing second.

The second overtime appears to be an exercise in fatigue.  BG was better tired, if that is the case.  Buffalo scored with 3:54 left to take a 2-point lead, and they did not score again.  Granted, BG scored only 5 points over the same period of time.  Luke Kraus had a steal and a nice basket on a sweet dish from Jordan Crawford, and Danny McElroy hit the key shot in the paint to put BG up 2 with :24 left.

From there, BG got a stop and Thomas got the board.  He was fouled, and thankfully made one of the 2 free throws, and UB missed their desperation 3 to win the game.

So, that's a pretty exciting way to start the year.

A few thoughts.

BG has become a team that is strictly looking at its inside game.  We made 1 3FG this game after none the game before.  We only attempted 4 3s in the whole game.  We scored 50 of our 74 points in the paint.  I have often said that my favorite type of basketball is winning, so I could not be less interested in what style of play caused the Falcons to leave the floor with more points.  Laissez les bons temps rouler

When you are shooting close to the basket, you should make more.  In fact, if you play this style and you do not, you are dead meat.  BG shot over 50% from the field again.  We have done this in 5 of our last 6 games and we have not lost when we have done it.

Coach stressed the quality defense in his post-game.  We held Buffalo under 40% for the game on FGs, including 31% in the second half, and we held them to 32% on 3s.  They were shooting 49% and 37% for the year.  Despite our late rebounding issues, we had a great game overall at +9.

We'll have an update with tempo-free stuff later.

On an individual level, we got a really nice game out of A'uston Calhoun, who seems to be rounding into the player we hoped he could be.  He does miss some frustrating close baskets, but after a slow start last night got tougher and ended up with 20 and 9 on 9 of 20 shooting.  Scott Thomas had a really nice game with 19 and 11 on 8 of 12 shooting.  Danny McElroy had 13 points on 6-9 shooting and Cam Black had 11 rebounds.

Note:  Those stats were generated in 50 minutes.

BG, in fact, should have won this game in regulation going away.  BG shot a dreadful 46% from the free throw line for the game, and a horrifying 33% in regulation.  If we even make 10 of our 15 free throws in regulation that's +5 and we're winning.  This has happened from time to time under the Orr regime, but we're not going to be able to play in the paint like this because teams will start to foul us and we have to be able to put the FTs away.

Buffalo did a great job taking care of the ball.  They turned it over only 12 times.  Amazingly, 11 of those were on steals to BG.  That means that, they had only 1 dead-ball turnover for 50 minutes.

Finally, BG's guards.  Our starters, Brown and Jakubowski, played only 20 minutes, while Kraus and Crawford each played 30 minutes.  Kraus never puts up any huge numbers, but he does seem to play tough defense and may have helped keep Filzen under control.  Crawford had 9 points and 4 assists on 3-6 shooting.

A note on Buffalo.  Javon McCrea is the real deal.  He had 18 points on 9-11 shooting with 9 rebounds and he only played 26 minutes.  It helped the Falcons immensely in the overtimes that the Bulls did not have him.