Ugly MBB win in Evansville

Here, Dr. Naismith explains the object of the game.

College basketball may well have been set back to here after Saturday's BG-Southern Indiana game.  You're back to having laces on the basketball.  BG MBB won 54-52.  The only worse thing would have been to lose.

That's a 3-game winning streak for the Falcons, now 5-2.  The ugly win cost them 15 spots in kenpom.

Just to give you an idea, USI shot 32% for the game.  BG shot 29%.

BG had the lead much of the first half, leading 17-11 with 7 left in the half.  The Screaming Eagles then closed hard, with a 17-4 run to lead by 7 at the half. 

USI shot 37% for the half.  BG shot 24%.

For the first 7 minutes of the 2nd half, there was ONE FG made by both teams. Some FTs....USI still led by 7.

Coming out of the 12-minute time-out, some shots started to fall and BG took the lead.  It bounced back and forth and was tied with 6 minutes left. BG went on a 9-3 run to take a 6-point lead with 2:20 to play.

USI went on a run and had the lead down to 1 with :56.  BG ran clock but turned the ball over with :34 to play.  USI got into the paint with :19 left, Spurgin impacted the shot and BG had the rebound.

Hill was fouled and made both.  BG was up 3 with :16 left.  BG opted to foul to prevent a 3FG attempt and USI made both FTs, so it was now a 1 point lead with :11 left.

Hill was fouled again with :09 left and he split the FTs.  No worry about fouling to prevent a 3FG now, USI just had to run offense.  They hit a shot that might have been a 2 or might have been a 3 but was definitely not-a-buzzer-beater.  The Falcons won.

BG had .79 points per possession.  It is their third offensive dog of the year, including Oakland and WKU, which were only a little better.  It is our worst offensive game since ODU in 2017.  The last time we won with that kind of output was against EMU in 2013 in a truly unwatchable game.

BG shot 31% from 2FG and 24% from 3FG.  USI shot 32% from 2FG and 31% from 3FG.  However, they made a lot of turnovers and had only a slight lead in the rebounding--still a bad night for BG on the defensive boards, as that has been a strength for us. Both teams made 13 FTs.

Marcus Hill was BG's leading scorer with 15, but it was a lot rougher than normal. He was 3 of 13 on 2FGs and 9 of 10 at the line. Also 6 rebounds. Jason Spurgin had 10 on 3 of 7 and 1 of 3 shooting. Towns had 10 and 11 for a double double and made 5 of 11 of his shots. 

Trey Thomas played 25 minutes but Da'Shawn Phillips did not.

It's a week off for finals and then the 1-5 Ohio Dominican Panthers will be in town Sunday.  They are a DII team that BG beat by 37 last year.