MBB Loses Opener

BG went to Hattiesburg to open the season and lost to the Golden Eagles 77-68.  Since BG did not play any exhibition games (opting for closed scrimmages), it was our first time to see the team with 10 new players.

It was a competitive game, but USM was in control almost the whole way.  BG led for less than a minute. USM led for the last 35 minutes, though never more than 12.  BG made a couple runs to get it close but USM always punched back.

BG was down 11 early in the second half...BG got hot from the outside and got it to 2 with 14:58 left. But it was back to 7 a minute later.

In the closing minutes, BG cut the lead to 5 with 1:35 left.  They had two possessions to try and cut it below that, but came up empty both times and that ended up being their last chance.

The game was fast paced, at 74 possessions. BG struggled on offense, scoring .92 points per possession. We expected to see a lot of 3FGs and we did.  BG took 42% of their shots from distance.  They were reasonable accurate, making 36%.  However, they made only 42% of their 2FGs, had a high number of turnovers, did not crash the offensive boards and only got to the line 8 times,  making 4.  (One other note, added after the original post...USM blocked 10 BGSU shots, which is 26% of our total shot attempts and almost half of our missed 2FGs. I can't remember us giving up that many.)

USM had 1.04 points per possession. They made only 23% from 3FG, but scorched the BG interior defense, making 64% from 2FG. (Last year's national average was 50%).  They also turned the ball over and didn't offensive rebound, but were 12 of 14 at the line.

USM had 19 points off turnovers, which I don't usually look at.  It seemed to me that USM was especially effective in taking missed shots and live ball turnovers and turning them into easy baskets.

BG played a relatively tight 8-man rotation. The announcers said that BG played two closed scrimmages and has used a different starting lineup every time out.

Starters were Johnson (32 minutes), Butler (27), Thomas (30), Towns (29) and Campbell (32).  Off the bench were Green (13) Khayat (11), Exacte (10), Squire (7), Humphrey (4) and Felt (2).  Mahmoud appeared to be in street clothes, and Pardon and Adem DNP.

USM played only 6 guys 10 minutes or more.  BG used 23 lineup combinations and USM used 9. The best lineup was the starting line up, +5.

Thomas and Butler led the team with 17 points each.  Thomas was really effective, making 5 of 7 from 3FG.  Butler was 4 of 8 from 2 FG and 3 of 10 from 3FG.  Marcus Johnson had 15 with 4 of 8 from 2 and 2 of 5 from 3.  Campbell also had 14, 5 of 10 from 2FG and 4 of 6 at the line.  He also had 4 assists, 4 steals and 3 TOs.

Sam Towns had 0 points and 10 rebounds.

So, one we go.  Tough game Friday night against Davidson.