Falcon Men Fall to North Dakota

The first day did not go well in Florida for the Falcon men.  This was not a good one at all.  Not that you couldn't lose to North Dakota, but you don't want to end up losing by 18 on a neutral floor, which is what happened.

North Dakota was in control much of the way.  About 4 minutes in it was 8-7 and then the Fighting Hawks when on a four minute, 19-7 run that put them up by 17 with 10 minutes left in the first half.  BG, to its credit, did battle back, getting the lead as low as 3 before heading to the locker room down 7.

BG came out and had the game tied within a couple minutes of the start of the second half, and while the first ten minutes of the half were within reach, BG never led.  Here's the kicker...with 11:38 left, BG was down 54-51.  From there on in, BG was outscored 23-8.

That's a rough night.

There were two key differences in the game.  Nobody had a good day on offense.  In fact, FG% shooting overall was almost exactly equal.  However,  North Dakota was 10 of 21 on 3FGs while BG was 5 of 15, meaning that NoDak got more points out of the same number of shots.  The second key difference was FTs.  The F-Hawks were great, hitting 21 of 26, while BG was simply awful, shooting 8 out of 20.

Neither team was great on offense...North Dakota had .96 points per possession, which is below average.  BG, however, was .76 points per possession which is borderline impossible to win with.  Right now, it is the key issue.  The team lacks offensive playmakers, and that includes inside and out.  Beyond that, they are really still establishing an identity.  They don't seem to know what kind of team they are...is it defense, is it upbeat, is it scoring?

Just underscores the issue...this is going to be a project.

Spencer Parker (key quote from Todd Walker:  "Ever the enigma"), had a big night.  He scored 16 points on 7 of 16 shooting, had 12 rebounds, and while he did have 4 turnovers and shot 2 of 7 from the line, he was the team's best offensive option.  Zack Denny had 12 points on 5 of 14 shooting and Antwon Lillard--who led BG in minutes--had 10 points on 4 of 8 shooting, which is an efficient night.

It was a tough night for BG at the point.  Joseph battled foul trouble and played only 17 minutes and BG struggled with him on the bench.

Now 1-2, BG plays again today against a Youngstown State team that battled into 3 OTs last night.