I will say this. The Falcons are a completely different team at the Stroh Center than they are on the road.
Yeah, I know, most teams are, but this seems like a pretty serious divide. On the road, BG had lost to Western Kentucky (who fired their coach mid-season) and UTSA, and had generally played sluggish and poor basketball.
But the performance yesterday on the Stroh Center floor was something completely different. BG took on an OU team that was 5-1 on the road for the BG and the Falcons probably played the best game of the year in beating the Bobcats by 10, 67-57.
As I noted in the preview, it was a win they really needed. If you're going to get a top 4 slot, you have to at least defend home floor. If BG had lost to OU and Akron and was 0-2 with only 6 home games remaining, it starts to look bleak.
The key, so far as I could tell, was defense. OU had only .84 points per possession, a season low. They shot 38% from the field and only 20% from beyond the arc and had turnovers on 26% of their possessions, which is their worst result of the season. BG committed only 14 fouls in all this, and the Bobcats shot only 16 free throws.
The only team to hold OU to less than 57 points was Louisville.
The most important observation is that BG was in zone for the game, something that they have played less of this year. I had noted that they had struggled with teams like OU (small, athletic and guard-oriented) over the course of December, and Coach more or less acknowledged that in a man to man, we had a lot of matchup problems. He also said our zone was our best defense. And, it clearly got the job done. Whatever defense you play you have to play it well--BG has been torched in the zone, too--but I'd expect to see more zone as the conference season moves forward. Just a guess.
The other key element to the game was BG's resilience. BG had owned most of the second half. With 15 left it was a 33-32 game for BG. Over the next seven minutes, BG had outscored the Bobcats 17-7 to post an 11 point lead. With 5 minutes left Scott Thomas hit a 3 to put the lead back to 10 and with 4 minutes left, BG still led by 10.
OU scored 7 points in one minute to bring the game back to 1 possession. Cooper hit a couple free throws, and OU was then in full court pressure, and they got a steal and Cooper drained a 3. BG called time out and still turned the ball over. Calhoun got a key block on Cooper but the ball was out of bounds and Baltic ended up with a hoop.
Then, with 2:43 OU nailed another basket, and in 1:20 the game had gone from 10 points to 1 point.
With 2 minutes left (about), OU had the game tied at 56.
It would be have been easy for the Falcons to be overwhelmed. There are not many times you lose 9 points in 1:20. You're still facing full court pressure, and OU is sensing blood.
But what happened was that OU scored only 1 more point in those 2 minutes, while BG scored 11 points and closed the game out on a big run, with 5 missed shots by the Bobcats and zero second chances.
And that's something to be proud of for Falcon fans. BG looked right in the face of that OU run and shut it down.
Coach Orr talked about a key play in there. With the game tied at 56, Crawford threw an alley-oop to Oglesby. It was a little off target, and the right handed Oglesby caught the ball one-handed/left-handed and dunked it left-handed. Coach says we don't have guys who can make that athletic play.
BG's offense was far from stellar, mostly due to 21 turnovers. When BG did get shots off, they were effective, shooting 52% from the field, trying only 8 3FG but making 4. BG committed only 14 fouls and won the rebounding battle comfortably. It was BG's 3rd best D1 shooting performance of the season, and not coincidentally, the best in a win since the Temple game.
Individually, the key player was Jordan Crawford. He was matched up with DJ Cooper, the MAC's top point guard, and he very much held his own. Crawford had 16 points (game high) on 5 of 9 shooting, some key transition baskets, with 5 assists, 4 rebounds and 2 steals. He did make 6 turnovers, but overall he managed the game very effectively, especially as BG turned back the OU run.
Dee Brown had 13 points on 4 of 7 shooting to go with 5 rebounds in 28 minutes. Dee has been struggling to score since the first 3 games of the season, and it was good to see.
Scott Thomas started slow in scoring, but ended up with a 10/10 double double with 4 steals.
A'uston Calhoun also struggled much of the night. OU was double teaming him and clearly committed to keeping him off the scoreboard. Calhoun did finish with 12 points and 3 blocked shots.
Torian Oglesby did miss a shot, bringing his streak to an end, but he ended up with 5 points and 9 rebounds.
I should also mention Cam Black, who, as normal, did not post any big numbers. However, when he's in there, he does alter the other team's attack...he only officially blocked one shot, but he does effect the game when he is on the court.
So, a very nice win to open the MAC season for BG. The Falcons beat a team that I think a bunch of teams are going to lose to. Of course, the great thing about conference basketball is that it just keeps coming, and next up are the Akron Zips on Wednesday. They're good too, but if BG could win this one, they can beat Akron.
And then, the other challenge is for BG to find someway to take what they do at home and apply it somehow on the road. If you win your home games and lose the road games, you are .500. You might be looking at the cross-over games, but BG has both WMU and Ball State away this year, and plays Toledo and NIU at home. So, we're going to need to find some road magic somewhere.
Against OU, it was our juniors and seniors who found the way. Here's a fan hoping they can figure out a way to do the same on the road.
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