You have a big crowd. BG has had a bad habit of disappointing big crowds over the last couple years, but this time BG rewarded them for coming and hopefully engaged them to come again. And when that place starts to get big crowds, there will be noise. (Dare we say, it will roar?)
This was BG's 4th largest MBB crowd. THERE WAS TRAFFIC IN THE PARKING LOT LEAVING THE ARENA! Love it. Love it. A great day.
It did not start out that way. BG was down 11-0 at the first media time out and with 5 minutes left in the first half was down 29-10. It was not possible for them to be playing worse. But then, you could see something. Instead of folding, you could actually see them lock onto the challenge. They started to play defense with real intensity. Real pressure. I mean, you could literally see it. And it worked.
BG closed the half on a 14-2 run, including a Justin Turner buzzer beater, to cut the lead to 7. BG had the clear momentum entering the second half.
From there it was a ballgame. BG was locked in, as was Kent. BG had the game tied with about 12 minutes left, but Kent pushed the lead back to 6 and led for the next few minutes. Even so, you felt like BG was in the game the whole way now.
With 7 minutes left, Kent led 53-47. BG scored the next 7 points to finally take the lead for the first time. And from there, things went the way they are supposed to go with good teams. BG took the lead with 5 minutes left at home and did not trail again. You take control of the game and you close the door. That's 23-9 coming home in the last 7 minutes, to a roaring crowd, chanting DEE-FENSE, DEE-FENSE. Awesome.
Here's how large the comeback was. Kenpom.com keeps track of win probability as a game proceeds. When BG was down 19, they had an 8.5% chance of winning the game, based on other teams in similar situations. As of this morning, that is the #192 largest comeback in college basketball this year, counting the thousands of games that have been played.
I feel (or hope) that maybe a light switched for our guys. Coaches always say you have to learn how to win. Let's hope this was a positive lesson we can build on. More on that in a second.
So, BG won the game the way it usually happens, which is by shooting better and taking better care of the ball. That's the most likely way to win a game. One note, BG is getting to the line a lot less lately. I don't know if teams are focusing on not fouling or if the officiating is changing as the game gets back into conference play, but BG is getting to the line less. Their FT% has also fallen in MAC play.
Anyway, the deal here is that BG held Kent to .9 points per possession. And make no mistake about it, defense keyed this comeback, as they key all comebacks. The difference between this and the UT game is we punched back when we got hit.
Justin Turner led BG with 20 points. With DeLa Rosa in there, BG could not rely on the inside game as much as they would like and Turner stepped up. We needed him to take shots in volume. He scored 20 on 8 of 18 and 2 of 4 shooting, plus 3 steals. Wiggins was still productive, scoring 13 points on 6 of 9 shooting to go with 9 rebounds. (DeLa Rosa went 20 and 6, but had 5 TOs).
Rod Caldwell had a really nice game, scoring 12 off the bench, but doing it efficiently, 4 of 6 and 2 of 4 and adding 4 assists and 0 turnovers. He also stroked a key basket late and is very reliable on last-minute FTs. Antwon Lillard scored 11 on 4 of 7 and 1 of 4 shooting. Derek Koch had 8 points and 6 rebounds in 23 minutes.
So here is how things look now. If the season ended today, BG would have a home game in the tourney. They're only one game out of the #3 slot and the #8-9 slots as well. BG also still has Buffalo twice. So, it won't be easy. Actually, the BSU game Tuesday plays right into this.
BG is also 14-9 on the year. It would be great to end up with a winning record for the season, something few and far between in the past 15 years. Obviously, we're moving closer to making that a reality.
A great day at the Stroh. More to come.
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