Zips Beat Poor Shooting Falcons (MBB)

So two games ago BG was smoked by Ball State as their offensive attack fell apart.

Then they bounced back with a big win in Buffalo.

And then they had another terrible offensive game against Akron...making it two out of the last three.

BG scored .81 points per possession, actually worse than the Ball State game.  That's a non-winning number...we haven't won at that level since that 2013 46-44 debacle with EMU.  Under .9, we are 2-12 since 2018.  You just don't defend your way out of that.

And we didn't.

It wasn't a total blow out.  UA had a 16-8 lead halfway through the first half and BG got it back and took the lead.  BG trailed by one heading to the last minute but then UA nailed two 3s to lead by 7 at the break.

They started the second half on an 8-2 run to go up 13.  BG battled back again, taking the lead and with 8 minutes left the game was tied at 45.

From there it got ugly.   Akron scored the next 10 and the game was never closer than 10 during the last 3:30.  The run started with 2 3FGs by Bryan Trimble.

BG struggled to score but did play decent defense, holding UA to .98 points per possession.  Again, you can't defend your way out of that kind of offense.

The worrisome thing is that is BG's third straight poor shooting game.  In fact, BG shot WORSE against UB...but salvaged it with 27 FTs.  UA defended BG without fouling...BG shot 5 FTs last night.  Beyond that, BG had a turnover advantage but UA did have a big game on the offensive boards, which helps the shooting %.  They didn't shoot well, but good enough.

BG needs to get the shooting turned around.  It is always hard to win if you shoot poorly, but this team will find it even harder if they can be defended without fouling.

Daeqwon Plowden led the team with 14 points and 8 rebounds against 7 of 16 shooting, 0-4 from 3FG.

Metheny had 14 on 4 of 8 3FG shooting.  Turner had 13, shooting 2 of 11 from 2 and 2 of 5 from 3FG.  5 rebounds and 6 assists.

BG has a number of guys in shooting slumps.  They are under 32% from 3FG in every game since Robert Morris when they weren't playing CMU.

BG is now 6-2 in the MAC, tied with Kent and Akron with 2 losses.  UT has only 1.  Tomorrow is at Miami.  Not a great team, but they did beat Ball State.  Winning a title is hard and the test continues for the Falcons.