Crushing MBB Loss

That one hurts.

You survive a first half where Wiggins is in foul trouble and plays only 2 minutes.  You come out hot in the second half.  With 12 minutes left, you are up 15, 64-49.

You've got to win that game.  At home?  You've got to win that game.  Apparently, and this comes from Coach, BG decided that they had the game won and let the foot off the gas.  As hard as that is to believe, especially given BG's track record of giving up leads, that's what he said happened.

And CMU took advantage, outscoring BG 35-11....35-11!!!!!....over that 12-minute stretch and BG went from winning by 15 to losing by 9 in a little over a quarter of the game.  You don't want to give up 35 points in 12 minutes and you don't want to score 11.  Together, its an epic collapse that just cannot happen.

I do think we have some pieces in place.  I do like the future.  However, for THIS year, this was a disaster.  BG had a chance to go to 4-2 in the conference.  Remember, BG has yet to play Buffalo or Toledo...or WMU or Ball State...this was a win you really needed.  Not that CMU is bad, but they are certainly near our level and we had them down by 15.

Ouch.

CMU had 1.16 points per possession, whcih is the best against BG in the MAC season.  BG scored 1.03 points per possession.  When you look at how the stats broke out, it was actually pretty even on 3 of the 4 measures.  The worse was turnover%.  BG spent most of the year taking really good care of the ball.  Now, they have been at 25% of possessions in 3 of the past 4 games.  The average for MAC games is 19% so far.

Some of the turnovers were caused by the CMU pressure and some weren't.  Some were inexperience based...BG had one possession with Plowden and Cummings trying to break it with predictable results.

If you look at the stats, Frye had 5, Wiggins 3, Caldwell 3, Lillard 2 and Plowden 2, and other guys with 1.  One thing that isn't measured is whether they were "live ball" turnovers or dead ball turnovers.  There seems to be an idea evolving that the live ball turnovers, which often result in run outs, are worse.  CMU had 10 steals, which is guanteed to be a live-ball TO.

CMU shot 21 FTs and BG shot 17.  CMU made 17 (81%) and BG made 13 (a very solid 77%) but CMU ended up +4 at the line.

All 5 BG starters ended up in double figures.  Caldwell led the team with 6 of 11 and 3 of 7 shooting, with the 3 treys coming in quick succession as BG drove to the lead in the early 2nd half.  He had 4 assists and 3 turnovers.

Wiggins had 13 on 5 of 7 shooting to go with 11 rebounds in 18 minutes.  That's pretty good.  Frye had 13 on 5 of 13 and 3 of 10 shooting to go with the aforementioned turnovers...that's a less efficient day.

Turner had 12 on 5 of 9 and 2 of 4 shooting and 5 rebounds.  Derek Koch had 11 points on 4 of 9 shooting and 5 rebounds in 25 minutes.

So, BG plays @NIU on Tuesday.  BG beat the Huskies at the Stroh and have a  tough week, heading to Savage to play the Rockets on Saturday.  Things get a little tougher, which is why losing this one will sting so much.  We are a young team, I get it.  Hopefully, this is part of "The Process."