Kent: Sadness accrues.

Looking now at the actual game.  It was a bizarre game.  A fast start, a dreadful middle, a crazy indulgent second half with no guarding and as the smoke lifted over the wreckage Kent had won more or less comfortably on their home floor.

Six minutes in BG was up 15-7.  Over the next 10 minutes, they outscored BG 26-8 to take a 10 point lead and then then had a 12-4 run over the last six minutes of the first half to lead by 18 going into the locker room.  Over 14 minutes of basketball, BG was outscored 38-12.

The second half--especially the middle part of the second half--was a whole different story.  With 12:34 left, Kent was up 19, so play to that point had been pretty even.  Over the next 4 minutes, BG went on a 13-0 run to bring the game back to six.  While it was the only period in the game where BG was competitive with Kent, the Falcons had brought the game back into focus and had a chance to win the game.

However, the game never got closer than that.  In fact, with 3:47 left, Kent was back up 10.  BG did nail a couple of late 3s to close the final gap to 5, but never has a possession where the game was a one score game.

There's no doubt that winning at Kent is tough.  They don't lose their very often.  BG scores 87 and loses.  BG gives up 92?  Ugh.

The last time BG scored more points than that, it was actually against Kent in the 2008-9 season.  The last time we allowed more than 92 was against Xavier a couple of years ago.

BG stayed with Kent shooting, which is good and bad, because it means we defended poorly enough to lose anyway.  BG made 10 3s, the most since a game against Georgia State very early in the Orr reign.  The 3-balls helped make up for a big difference in FTS (20-5), which, in all fairness, included 12 attempts in the last minute.  It also included BG shooting only 45% from the line.

The biggest thing BG could not overcome was turnovers.  BG had 16 turnovers, which isn't awful, but Kent only turned the ball over 8 times and those 8 extra possessions were pretty deadly, especially on a night where BG was shooting well.  Both teams were strong on the offensive boards, with Kent getting 19 and BG getting 16.  Keep in mind that there were not as many missed shots as normal, which really makes those numbers impressive.   BG rebounded about 57% of their missed shots.

Overall, BG had 1.24 points per possession, their best D1 game of the season.  Kent had 1.31 points per possession, BG's worst game of the season.

NCAA Basketball

Scott Thomas had 23 points, almost all in the 2nd half, to go with 8 boards.  Oglesby double-doubled at 16 and 13 (missed one shot).  Brown had 12 and 4 rebounds, and Jordan Crawford scored 10 points and had 13 assists over 6 turnovers.  Craig Sealey had 11 points and 7 rebounds on 5 of 6 shooting in 19 minutes.

Coach has been saying he needs to try and find Sealey minutes.  In this game, it looks like he ended up with some of Calhoun's minutes.  Calhoun played 21 minutes with 8 points on 4-11 shooting and 1 rebound.

So, a pretty ugly and disappointing loss.  I give our guys credit for fighting back, but when they show how well they can play, it almost mocks how poorly they play over stretches.  The team needs consistent, high level performance, and until they can provide it, they are destined for the middle of the pack.  They get another chance Wednesday to show they are making progress.  Miami is weakened...but on the other hand, they did hold serve against Buffalo yesterday.