MAC ROAD WIN...MBB

BG picked up a significant win last night.  They moved to 12-4.   That's one more than last year and one less than the year before.  So let's enjoy it.  On cold winter days, we have competitive men's basketball.

NIU is down 3 starters and clearly struggling badly.  BG has injuries as well...though not 3 guys who would be starting.  (BG deserves credit for a 3-1 start in MAC play under these circumstances...only one player back from the previous team who on the court, all those new guys and a thin frontline.  It's an accomplishment).

BG led for over 36 minutes and NIU never led by more than 3.  If that might interest you.

The first half was tightly contested. The game was tied with 7 left and BG led by only 2 with 4:16 left.  BG went on a 12-3 run to take the lead to 11 at the half.  I'd honestly like to know how often a team comes back when that happens to them.

Spoiler alert.  It never got closer than 8.  BG popped it up to 17 by the first media timeout, it was 19 a couple of minutes later.  NIU shaved it down and it bounced between 10-15 in general for 10 minutes or so.  Inside 5 minutes, NIU got the lead down to 8.  BG took a time out. They came out and drew a play where Agee was fouled. and he made both FTs.  On the other end, Coit was fouled and the top FT shooter in the MAC split a pair.

With 3:37 left, BG up 9 with the ball.  Here, Da'Shawn Phillip kicked in to close the game out. BG missed a 3FG, Phillip battled on the board, got two offensive rebounds before he was fouled and aced both FTs.  NIU matched on the other end, still 9 with 2:55 left.

NIU leads the MAC in blocked shots and is #23 in the nation. They are 2nd in the country in percentage of shots blocked. Anyway, Xavier Amos blocked shots on the next two possessions, with a key BG stop sandwiched in between.

BG has the ball, 1:51 left, and Phillip is fouled again.  He sinks them both, BG up 11.  Coit slices it to 9, with 1:40 left. 

BG ran clock, getting to the end of the clock.  Hill missed, but Phillip was there again with the board and the second chance basket and BG led by 11 with 1:06 left.  There was no more scoring....inclduing Coit missed 2 more FTS.

Every conference road win is good.  We played a team that was wounded and we beat them.  The opposite has happened before more times than we would like to think.

The game went at 72 possessions, which is more to NIU's liking.  Even so, BG scored 1.15 per possession, a winning number, and allowed only 1 per possession.  BG won, despite making on 3 3FGs on 15 attempts (20%). BG only took 25% of their shots from 3, lowest of the year.  You have to make 2s in that situation, and BG made 56%.  Meanwhile, they held a good 3FG shooting Huskie team to 30%.

For the second game in a row, offensive rebounding was the difference.  The other stats were all even.  But with the same shooting percentage, BG made took 6 more FG attempts, scored 6 more points on FGs and were +5 at the line.  There were a ridiculous number of fouls.  BG had 22 and NIU had 24 and there was no tactical fouling at the end. Three Huskies fouled out.  BG made 73% from the line.

Rashaun Agee was an absolute force.  The last player showing this much year-year improvement was Richaun Holmes.  He handles the ball better and is very tough to manage under the hoop.  He scored 24 on 8 of 9 shooting and made 8 of his 9 FTs.  Also 9 rebounds and a team-high 4 assists.  (3 turnovers, too).  Still, that's a full day.

Marcus Hill scored 20, but he had to work for it.  He was 6 of 17 shooting.  Also, 8 of 13 at the line, adding 4 rebounds and 4 steals. The key is that we are still finding ways to score, even as they are pressuring him and they aren't going to stop.

Phillip had 12, mentioned above....4-6 shooting, 4-4 at the line and 8 rebounds.  Spurgin double-doubled with 10 and 10, but struggled with his shot.

So, BG is 12-4 and 3-1.  Next week, they are @MU and then home for a game against the other MAC surprise, WMU, 4-0 right now.  Broncos probably a bigger surprise. The announcers mentioned that DJ Smith is out for the year but that we are hoping Towns will be back soon.  We get quite a bit better when that happens