Dominant Five Minutes Deliver Victory to BG MBB

 BG was faced Saturday with South Carolina State, an opponent they were favored to beat by 22.  And BG did end up winning by 23, so it's all good.  They did what they were supposed to do.

The first half was a little frustrating.

Before we dive into the numbers, it is important to note that this was a very fast-paced game.  In total, BG had 84 possessions.  That's against an average of 70 from last year and BG was in the top 25% of the country for pace.  It's the most possessions in a D1 game since Florida Gulf Coast two years ago.

What does that mean?  It means all the numbers are going to be naturally higher, but that doesn't necessarily signify a better performance.

So, it was 45-43 at the half.  I was thinking, how could BG allow the Bulldogs to have 43 points in a half.?  I looked at their shooting numbers and they were good but not mind-blowing.  Thing is, there were 40 possessions in the first half, leaving them with 1.06 points per possession, which is a good number but not as shocking as 43 points in a half might look.  BG had 1.11 points per possession, which is good, but not as great as the raw number looks.

For reference, UM had 1.3 for the game the other night.  BG had 1.11.

The second half was a little more what we hoped for.  BG scored the first 21 points of the half in less than five minutes.  In doing so, the game was over.  The lead was never closer than 19 again and got as high as 31.  BG just threw stifling defense onto the Bulldogs...forcing 7 turnovers in those five minutes.  And then BG scored at will on the other end.

For the curious, that means 44 second-half possessions.  SCSU was at .8 points per possession (more what we were looking for) and BG at 1.28.

The stats are surprisingly even.  SCSU ended up shooting about as well as BG did and BG turned the ball over quite a bit.  The Falcons dominated the boards (as you would expect) and had a ridiculous edge on FTs.  BG was 31 of 36 from the line and SCSU was 3 of 5.  That's a huge disparity.

I have a theory that when you see that, it impacts FG%.  If BG gets fouled every time they have a good shot, their shooting % is going to be lower.

With all tempo-disclaimers, it was BG's first D1 100+ game in 23 years.  (Against Akron...THAT's how long it has been).

 Daeqwon Plowden had a big game.  He scored on 7 of 12 shooting...7 of 8 from 2 FG and missing all 4 3FGs.  He added 16 rebounds.  Diggs had 17 (3 of 6 from 3FG and 8-9 at the line), Turner 16 (4 of 13 FG and 6-6 at the line) and 6 assists, Fields with 15 on 5 of 7 shooting and Metheny with 13 on 3 of 6 from 3FG and 1 assist over 4 turnovers.  No other Falcon scored 4 points.

Josiah Fulcher made his BG debut, logging almost 16 minutes.

Last note:  at this early date BG is #13 in the nation at the FT line.

Up next, Appalachian State tomorrow.  Preview coming, but this should be a decent chance to see where we are.