The BG Falcons came out Saturday against New Orleans and certainly showed they were more ready to play than they had been in their exhibition against Notre Dame. As noted in the preview, New Orleans is a team BG is supposed to beat and they did, 79-61.
Coach Huger said after the game that his parents and 50-60 people from New York came in for the game and surprised him. He truly seems like a genuine, authentic, nice guy and I look forward to him getting the program ramped up again. I think he is someone BG fans can get behind.
Stung by a slow start Friday, BG came out fast against the Privateers, bolting to a 14-2 lead in the first five minutes or so. It was no closer than 6 for the rest of the game. BG led by 10 at the half and kept the pressure on, never leading by less than 10 and leading by as many as 24.
In the preview, we had identified that shooting was UNO's big struggle, and that was the difference in this game as well. The Privateers shot only 35% from the field--and pretty much equally poorly in both halves--and were only 4 of 14 from 3FG. BG shot 45% from the field, though the Falcons also struggled from beyond the arc at 6 of 23. Rebounds and turnovers were relatively even, and BG had 13 more FT attempts and ended up +10 on free throws. BG improved on a poor FT shooting night in the exhibition by hitting nearly 70% in this game.
Overall, BG had 1.04 points per possession, which is a very good night but certainly not incredible. They held UNO to .8 points per possession, which is pretty much unwinnable territory for a team.
Individually, BG got a big game by a guy they can really use this year, which is Rasheed Worrell. He has been compared to Richaun Holmes on his arrival at BG...a raw talent who can turn into a player. He certainly showed some athletic ability Saturday, scoring 15 points on 6 of 9 shooting and grabbing 7 rebounds in 24 minutes of play.
BG's second leading scorer was another newcomer, Wes Alcegaire, who had 14 points. His were a little less efficient at 5 of 12 shooting and 1 of 5 from 3FG. Finally, true FR Antwon Lillard had 13 points off the bench on 4 of 9 shooting.
Zack Denny, in fact, was the only returnee in double figures, with 11 points on 3 of 7 shooting
Pep Joseph played 22 minutes with 2 assists. Ismail Ali--the other PG--has 2 assists and 4 turnovers.
In fact, BG was lead in assists by JD Tisdale with 3...he seemed to be a lot more of a solid player than he was last season.
In terms of rotation, BG started Parker, Worrell, Denny, Joseph and Alcegaire--basically a 3-guard lineup), with Tisdale, Ali, Lillard and Mayleben getting more than 10 minutes off the bench. Matt Fox played 8 minutes with Hluchoweckyj and Bustuill getting garbage minutes. Wiggins and Gomez were DNP.
Things get a little tougher on Wednesday as the UC Bearcats come in for the Bill Frack Challenge. Still, the game was on the schedule to be a win and BG got it done, with most of the scoring production coming from new players.
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