Falcons Stay in First Place Tie With WMU Win

Coach Jans said after last night's game that BG got what it needed, which was a game that didn't come down to the last seconds in a nailbiter.  It was, in fact, that and more as BG beat WMU 65-49 in a game that wasn't actually that close.

Coach Hawkins was clearly not happy.  He pulled his starters out en masse with 5 minutes left to play as his team fell down 20 points.  After the game, he was quoted as saying:

"Regardless of the circumstances - not having Austin and the flu bug or whatever the case is - it doesn't excuse what took place tonight for the guys in a Western Michigan basketball uniforms. I told them afterwards that every player that's ever played for us would have been embarrassed to see what took place tonight. There's no excuse for it."

WMU has certainly struggled without Richie.  His loss coincides directly with the losing skid WMU is on.  Once he gets back, I'd consider them a team I would worry about facing in the tournament.

Still, there was a lot of good about BG's performance.  The biggest thing was how effectively BG defended.  WMU had a season-low point total.  In fact, their .74 points per possession allowed is the second best of the year for the BG defense, eclipsed only by Chicago State.  Also, it is .32 below WMU's MAC average...a 30% reduction.

Some of that was on turnovers that could be PG related--WMU turned the ball over on 25% of its possessions--but most of it was a team that is used to shooting 46% and 37% and holding them to 34% and 20%.  WMU was one of the 3 top shooting teams in the MAC, and BG completely defended that at the Stroh last night.

BG also held WMU off the boards.  Even at the line, where WMU was able to get 19 FTs to BG's 8, they shot very poorly, made only 11 for a net +6 advantage at the line.

BG had .99 points per possession, which is about its average in MAC play.  BG shot 44% overall, but the key to the game was that BG also shot 44% from 3FG.  Hard to lose that way.  BG did turn the ball over too much (22%) in something that is a little bit of an emerging issue.  BG didn't have a great day on the offensive boards, but the shooting was enough to win, especially when the defense was as effective as it was.

College Basketball Stats

Spencer Parker had his 2nd great game since being taken out of the starting lineup.  He had 19 points on 7 of 10 shooting and he made all 5 of his 3FGs.  All of that production came in 23 minutes.  Anthony Henderson also continues to have a hot hand, scoring 15 of 6/9 and 3/5 shooting to go with 5 rebounds and 3 steals.  Holmes had 12 points on 5 of 8 shooting with 6 boards and 4 blocks.  Denny had 6 on 3 of 6 shooting--to his credit, he doesn't force shots up and hurt the team.  Clarke and Joseph continued to struggle with their shots.

Importantly, BG really worked David Brown.  He had 9 points on 3 of 12 and 1 of 8 shooting.

BG is now 8-3 in MAC play and remains in a tie for first with Akron and UT.  Since BG has lost to both of those teams (all 3 of its MAC losses, in fact), BG is in 3rd.  Obviously, you have to feel good about the season to date and to even be having a conversation about BG earning one of the 4 byes would have been unthinkable a year ago.

One last disappointment was the very small crowd...1,474.  That's disappointing for this team coming off 2 road wins.  I know we had a big crowd for Akron--and lost--which has been a move we have tended to make over the years...but we have typically drawn in the low 2s and it was disappointing to see us even below that.