Disappointing Loss to Vikings

As hard as wins may be for this team to come by, they had one in their hand at the Crisler Center.  Rather than winning in regulation--as they had a shot to--they ended up losing in overtime to Cleveland State.  They will now play the early game tomorrow.

First, on the positive side, I thought BG had excellent front court play.

A'uston Calhoun had an incredible game after a slow start in our first two games.  He had 30 points and 7 rebounds...that's on 12-17 shooting and 4-6 from the line.  He was just dominant out there yesterday, and certainly is responsible for getting BG into overtime.

Cam Black...in 13 minutes, he scored 9 points, had 3 rebounds and one official block, though I noticed a half dozen possessions he dominated with tough play on the inside.  He showed some nice touch on a couple of offensive plays.  BG was in man defense, and he's a little less suited to that because sometimes he had to go out and guard on the perimeter.  I felt was very productive and showed improvement over last year.

Richaun Holmes has been the most pleasant surprise for the Falcons this year.  He's off to a really good beginning and he took Craig Sealey's spot in the starting lineup.  He had 6 points, 6 rebounds and 4 blocks and only took 4 shots.  Also, he has a soft touch with his blocked shots, which means they often stay in play, as opposed to flying OB and just resulting in a possession for the other team.  He's a very solid player on both sides of the floor and a strong addition to the team.

The backcourt, however, was not quite as solid.  First, Jordon Crawford had 8 points and 6 assists, but those eight points came on 4-12 shooting and 0-4 from beyond the arc.  The biggest issue was that he made 9 turnovers.  I think Falcon fans are too hard on Crawford, but I believe even he would agree that it will be tough to win when your PG makes 9 turnovers.  In fact, I think I saw just that look on his face.

And a couple of those came at crucial moments, which we will cover in a minute.

Both Orr and Kraus were 2-7 from the field and Jehvon Clarke was 0-7.  Clarke did have 4 assists.

The Vikings jumped out to a 7-0 but BG had the game tied with 10 minutes left in the first half and with about 7 left the Vikings had run out to an 8 point lead.  BG finished the half on a 14-6 run fueled by 8 Calhoun points and the game was tied at halftime.

BG actually led for most of the second half, leading by as much as 7 as late as with 9 minutes left.  The Vikings went on a 10-3 run to tie the game with about 5 minutes left in which BG had 3 turnovers.

The crucial possession--the moment of highest tragedy--came on the final possession of regulation.  BG had the ball with :32 left and no timeouts.  The game was tied.  The objective here is just to take the last shot.  Crawford dribbled around the top of the key, running the clock down, but when he tried to make something happen he turned the ball over and BG had lost its best chance of winning the game. You just have to think you can get the ball onto the rim in that situation.

The Vikings dominated the overtime.  With just under 2 minutes left they led by 5.  The Falcons kept pressing--I felt they did play hard the whole way--and Kraus nailed a 3 and then BG made a stop.  Down 2, Kraus did get to the rim but his running shot would not fall, and that was it, pretty much.

I thought Cleveland State was very resilient.  That team really plays inside out--numerous times they drove into the key and kicked out to a wide open guard who nailed his shot.  Even so, BG had a chance to win the game and there was no play to be made when it was needed.

NCAA Basketball Stats

Statistically, BG had .95 PPP while Cleveland State had 1.05.  BG had a slight shooting edge that was offset by Cleveland State having fewer turnovers and having a decent night on the offensive boards while BG was actually pretty poor.  The teams were pretty even getting to the line and making FTs (Vikings +2 FTM).

NCAA Basketball

Crisler was tomb-like for most of the game and will be tonight for the IUPUI consolation game.  It is a difficult environment to play in

BG is 1-1.  IUPUI is a very winnable game for BG.