Falcons Fall to Bulls

The Falcons got the expected result last night against South Florida at the Stroh.  The game was tied with less than 3 minutes to play in the first half but the Bulls went 7-1 on a Falcon team in deep foul trouble and led by 7 at the half.  BG never got within 5 again, as USF ground it out.  In the last 10, BG was never within 8 points.

BG, surprisingly enough, had an average offensive game at 1.01 points per possession.  That's accomplished with very poor shooting...36% and 22%.  The offense was saved by taking good care of the basketball and having an above average day on the offensive boards.  BG also did not get to the line much and made only 55% when they did.

The problem was, USF had a huge day with the ball.  It was a 61 possession game, so 75 points is 1.23 points per possession, which is pretty hard to beat for BG.  USF shot really well...they shot 59% from the field and that made the big difference, even if they only shot 30% from 3.  They had more turnovers than BG but had better offensive rebounding and shot a lot more FTs.  They were +6 on free throws alone.

Chauncey Orr did not play due to the knee injury that forced him out against Earlham.  Spencer Parker got the start in his place.  He had a nice game, playing 39 minutes, scoring 11 points on 4 of 8 shooting and 4 rebounds and could have had more, except he shot 3-7 from the line.  Richaun Holmes had 10 points and 7 rebounds on 3 of 5 shooting.  However, both of them had 4 fouls and 3 turnovers.

BG's leading scorer was Jehvon Clarke 17 points, but that's a little misleading.  Clarke took an incredible 24 shots to get there, and was 6 of 24 from the field.  That's the kind of 17 points that does not help your team win.  He had 4 assists over 4 turnovers, also not numbers that successful teams get from their PG.

In fact, Clarke and Henderson collectively shot 10 of 39 from the field and 2-11 from 3.  In the preview, I identified this as one of the concerns for this team, and it certainly played itself out against the Bulls.

BG ran a 7-man rotation.  With Sealey, Orr and Denny out with injuries and Mayleben not playing yet, that's all the scholarship players BG has to work with.

Josh Gomez came off the bench and had 7 points and four rebounds (including a trey...and 3 fouls) in 11 minutes played, so take that for what it might be worth.

On the USF side, Corey Allen scored 19, Rudd 16 and Egbunu 12 with 8 boards.  Anthony Collins returned to the lineup with 26 minutes off the bench, scoring 7 with 5 assists.

So, BG was falls to 1-1 on the year and 0-1 in D1 competition.  Wisconsin is next on Thursday and St. Louis on Friday, both on the road, so it doesn't get any easier.