Falcons Win on Banner Night....

Well, beyond the big pre-game news, there was a MAC game to be played.  Last year's league champs were in town in part of a challenging road through the MAC East.  BG has been tough at home, and showed it out there last night, beating OU by 12.

As I mentioned last night, BG led for most of the game, often in the double digits.  The Falcons avoided their trademark bad start and actually led by 5 at the second media time out.  OU took their only lead of the game at 17-16, but BG led by as much as 8 from there on in the first half and led by 5 at the half.

BG came out fast in the second half with a 10-4 run that left them ahead by 11 with 17:25 left.  Just inside 12 minutes OU got fouled on a trey and nailed all three free throws, and then BG turned it over and they got another hoop and the 5-point swing seemed to energize them.

OU went on a little run, and off a fastbreak layup and a transition 3 by DJ Cooper, they had the game down to 1.

Here's where the Falcons are continuing to prove themselves.  Whereas some teams--perhaps even this team earlier this year--would have folded, the Falcons took the blow and fired back. BG got 4 straight stops on top of a six point swing that included two highlight reel dunks by Torain Oglesby, and BG was up 7 again with 4:12 left.

Still plenty of time, but the Falcons slammed the door.  The game was never closer than 5, the Falcons were 5-5 from the line in the last 90 seconds, and that's how you win.  The last 7:51 showed a 17-6 BG run, and 2 of OU's points were a garbage layup.

College Basketball

This is a game where the Four Factors tell a pretty clear story.  BG's shooting was a little better than OU's, but OU turned the ball over 4 more times, were virtually denied anything on the offensive boards, and BG was +3 at the free throw line.  BG shot 51% from the field and 50% from 3 for the game and averaged 1.14 points per possession, the best D1 performance of the year.  Meanwhile, OU shot 46% and 47% and had .96 points per possession, their 5th worst game of the year.

Also, BG had 20 assists for the game, which means assists accounted for almost 3 out of 4 baskets, a season-high.

NCAA Basketball Stats

While I am sure Coach would like them to shoot more poorly, I still believe that we had a very strong defensive performance. Note:

• Tommy Freeman had only 2 3s.  I was watching, and we did a great job in the zone of following him as he moved around and making sure he didn't have any space.
• DJ Cooper is a great player and he had 18 points.  However, we limited the damage he can do by only giving him 4 assists against 4 turnovers.  Coach said after the game that you can't stop him, just contain him, and I think you can argue we did that.
• We didn't trap much because we were worried about giving Cooper space to work in.  Still, OU turned the ball over on 26.6% of their possessions, their second worst game of the year and the worst was against Kansas.
• BG had steals on 14% of OU's possessions and blocked shots on 10%, our second best game of the year in that respect.  So, on one-quarter of OU's possessions, they did not get a shot to the rim, and as noted before, they did not get many second chances.

It was yet another strong finish for our team.  We certainly have a lot of depth.  We are legitimately four deep at guard and in the middle.  Scott Thomas effectively plays long minutes all the time.  I just wonder if that isn't playing a role.  I think that bringing Luke Kraus in on fresh legs against a team trying to catch up is a huge asset.  Almost like bringing a closer in for a baseball game.

The Falcons did alter their winning formula a little bit, in that hitting 3FGs was a big part of this win.  We were 7-14 from the 3FG, which is out best percentage of the season.  Thomas and Kraus both hit 3, and were a combined 6-8.  I am sure OU counted on outpacing us in that area.

Speaking of Thomas, he had a monster game.  He is a very consistent player...he contributes in some way to the team every single game.  In this game, he wasn't good he was great.  He had 19 points on 8 of 13 shooting, 3 of 5 on 3s, 9 rebounds 4 assists, 3 steals and only one turnover.  That's an offensive rating of 153.

Torian Ogelsby got the start and was also fantastic, with a double-double.  Coach said the starting lineup (Oglesby and Kraus in, Black and Brown out), was an "extension" of the end of the Miami game.  Oglesby is big and tough around the rim, and when he gets 13 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocked shots (3-4 from the line too), that's a huge contribution.  Coach says he is "growing every game."  He was 5-6 from the field, and had some monster dunks that are huge momentum shifts.

A'uston Calhoun had a nice game too with 15 points.  When he gets more comfortable shooting around the rim, he's going to be a very effective player, because he has the moves to get the shot up.

Jordan Crawford...what can you say?  Eight points, 7 assists, 2 steals against 2 turnovers.  Also, 4 rebounds and 4-4 from the line in the last 90 seconds...and some beautiful transition passes that brought the crowd to their feet.  Also, he had at least one play where he went to the floor and ripped a possession right out of OU's hands.  He's going to be a very, very good player.  Or is.

Finally, Luke Kraus had another good game.  He's key in this game because he defends the ball so well, but his 12 points, perfect FG shooting, 3 3s, 3 assists and a steal against 1 turnover is a pretty huge game for us, given that a lot of what he does is not counted in a boxscore.

So, that's the happy story from Anderson Arena.  This team is playing really well, and they are getting more confident.  It is hard to believe these are the same players from those games at Calihan Hall.  Finally, one other thing to keep in mind.  There's only 1 senior out there.