MBB Loses in KC

The MAC has had a rough pre-season in MBB.  Virtually no highlights.  And consistent disappointment.  Including for BG, which is battling serious injury issues and lost last night at #276 Kansas City by 8 points.  BG is 4-6, 3-6 in D1 games against the nation's #328 schedule.  (All kenpom).  The Falcons are currently ranked #275 on kenpom.

I'm not disillusioned.  I still like our coaches and their ability to get players.  But this year is not off to a promising start.

BG's next game is against a good St. Thomas team.  We are used to seeing them on the ice, but they are #137 in MBB which would rank them third in the MAC.

While BG stayed in touch for about 30 minutes--KC's largest lead was 14--the Roos led for 35 minutes.  A lack of depth might have been an issue...

The game started very even, with a one-possession lead in place both ways for the first 8 minutes. It was 16-16 when KC went on a 14-4 run to get a 10-point lead...featuring 2 BG turnovers that were directly cashed in for 3FGs. 

BG kept the deficit in the high single digits and then came back to tie the game with 2 minutes left in the half.  KC led by 1 at the break.

BG continued to compete.  6 minutes into the second half, the lead was still 1. The Roos tipped it up to 4 with 9 minutes to play and then went on a 10-0 run featuring 3 BG turnovers and 2 3FGs for the Roos in the interim.

It was over at that point.  BG got it down to 7, KC Ball, in the last 2 minutes, but there was no making the difference up.

There were 67 possessions in the game, which is a little slower than we like to play but not too slow.  Anyway, the key issue for BG was on defense.  KC came in very offensively-challenged and scored 1.28 points per possession, the highest against BG this year.  They had a 69% EFG, which is better than BG shot against Morgan State.  It was 66% on 2FGs and 50% on 22 3FG attempts.  

BG shot the ball well (59% EFG) and 61% on 2FGs and 39% on 3FGs.  All of which is good shooting but not as good as KC.  The turnover difference overall was not huge, but BG's came in a couple clusters (as noted above) that let KC have runs that kept BG in the role of chaser.

BG has been working on zone defenses but reverted to a man for at least part of this one, probably in response to KC's 3FG shooting. 

Javonate Campbell had 27 points for BG on 10 of 16 and 1 of 1 shooting. He added 5 steals. (He is #2 in the nation in steals per game).  Marcus Johnson had 22 on  5 of 7 and 3 of 8 shooting.  Derrick Butler had 11 and a team-high 5 rebounds.

BG played 8 players....Felt, Johnson, Campbell, Butler, Thomas, Exacte, Green and Squier.  Humphrey, Towns and Khayat continued to be out.