Falcon MBB wins #4

After the game, Coach said that if you told him BG was going to win and have Frye and Turner shoot a collective 5 of 24 and you'd win the game in MAC play, he would have taken it all day.  That's just what happened--the shooting goes deeper than that, in fact.  BG has won 4 straight MAC games now and getting the W is the key.  And if winning when you aren't playing well is important, so is playing well.  I don't think BG has put together a complete performance in MAC play, but maybe it's that kind of year.  There clearly is no dominant team in the MAC right now.  It might be a dogfight to the end.  My feeling is BG still has to elevate the game to get to the title.

For the first, BG was clearly the stronger team.  About 7 minutes in, BG took the lead and led until haltime, with its largest lead, 9 points, at the break.  The second half was a different kettle of fish.  BG shot 28% in the second half.  The game was down to a one-possession game 3 minutes into the half.  BG maintained the lead, though, even as the margin stayed in the 1-3 point range.  BG popped it up to 6 with 9 minutes left but NIU finally put a modest run together and took the lead with about 6 minutes left, after BG had led for 27 straight minutes.

They only ended up holding the second half lead twice, but the game was tied with 2:06 left.  The two teams traded stops and BG had the ball and called time with 1:10 left.  They ran offense, didn't really find anything and then Laster got the ball to Frye in the corner.  This was right on line with my seat and Frye was behind the backboard when he launched this shot and he'd been cold all night and then in it went.  That took some stones.  BG was up 3.

Down on the other end, German missed a 3FG, Justin Turner got the board and was fouled and made both FTs to make it a 5-point lead with :29 to play.

BG got another 3FG miss from NIU but gave up the board and NIU made the follow and cut the lead to 3 again with :16 left.

BG was in-bounding from its baseline.  They got the ball into Turner, but it was in the corner and the had him trapped and didn't foul and BG called time.  That killed :04.  With :12 left off the TO, BG actually ran a nice play, getting a high pass to Mattos who then fed it to Frye who had looped through traffic and was in the clear.  He got down court and got the clock to :08.  He was fouled, needed one FT, missed the first but made the second after an icing and BG had the win.  NIU hit a buzzer 2 to get to the 66-64 final.

From a stats standpoint, it was an amazing game to win.  BG's EFG was 38.8%--36% on 2FG and 28% on 3FG.  Since 2002, BG has only shot that poorly and won five other times (D1) and only twice in MAC play:

Green Bay 02
Wright State 13
Ohio and EIU 08
UT 06

So, that was unusual.  What was really weird--and what has not happened since at least 2002--is BG shot that poorly and still scored over 1 point per possession...1.02, which is actually above the D1 average for the year.  That's fascinating.

How did it happen?  Three things.

First, BG turned the ball over on only 15% of its possessions, above where they have been but still a good result.

Second, BG got 40% of the available offensive rebounds...against a team that was #50 in the country on their defensive glass.  Those extra shots helped BG score when shooting badly.

Third, BG had a great game at the line.  BG has not excelled getting to the line.  It was only the third game when FTs exceeded 40% of FGA this year.  More importantly, BG made 21 of 24 at the line.

So, that's how BG got to 1-point possession on a dreadful shooting night.

The other thing was defense.  If you have read here, you know that BG's defense has been terrible in the last couple games.  Not so last night at the Stroh.  BG locked down NIU, holding them to .99 per possession, the lowest in MAC play to date.  (Caveat, NIU came in averaging .96 per possession).

They shot 46%, which is 4% below the MAC average, so that was a win.  NIU took good care of the ball but only had poor night on the offensive boards and hardly got to the line at all.  They made 12 of 14, which is good, but it's -9 on FTs compared to the Falcons.

One thing has to be noted.  Eugene German is an all-MAC player, top 25 scorer in the country and NIU's only double-figure scorer on the year.  Caleb Fields spent most of the night on German--Turner did some as well.  Let me assure you, when Eugene German went to sleep last night, he saw Caleb Fields in his dreams.  Fields hounded German everywhere he went.  They would pull German back to the center line.  Fields was there.  Send him to the corner.  Fields was there.  Fields didn't help on anyone.  He guarded German and often denied the ball.  The Huskies tried everything to pop him free, including sending 2 centers out for a double screen.  It was an amazing effort by Fields that should be recognized.

Yet, German got 19, nearly his average.  But, he normally shoots 47% from 2FG, for example, and this time he was 3 of 10.  He was 3 of 9 from 3FG.  Making him use those extra 2-3 possessions to get his points could have been the difference in the game.

Individually, Daeqwon Plowden led the way with an efficient 14 points and 11 rebounds.  He shot 4 of 9 overall but 3 of 6 from 3FG.  Frye had 14 on 4 of 12 and 1 of 5 shooting--yes, the only 3 he made was the one we had to have.  Tayler Mattos continues to improve, scoring 11 on 3 of 5 shooting, 5 of 6 from the line and adding 8 rebounds in 23 minutes.  If that's the kind of thing that might interest you.

Todd Walker on the post-game noted what BG is getting from Michael Laster.  Previous year, he was certainly an effective player but made a lot of risky plays that didn't always work out.  He's rock solid lately.  He's leading the MAC in A/TO and is #19 in the country.  He was 5 over 1 in 16 minutes, include the dime on Frye's dagger-3.

Winless EMU comes in next on Tuesday before the hated Rockets the following Saturday.  BG is in a 3-way tie for first, 5/18 of the way into the year.