BG MBB "Disappointing" in EMU Loss

Coach Simon called it a disappointing day at the Stroh, and I think he is right.  We just missed a ton of shots, many of them makeable--many of them layups--against a team that's easy to shoot against.  And at home.  It was a disappointing performance.

Coach also said that he sees the program on the upswing.  We have two guys (Green and Thomas) who played last night who played D1 ball last year. Campbell is playing with his fingers taped together on one hand, limiting his ability to score.  He's gutting it out.  We expect Humphrey back soon and Khayat a couple of weeks later.  Reading between the lines on some things, I think Towns is done for the year.

I believe in our coaches.  Near-term, we are struggling to be competitive.  BG is 7-10 and 5-10 in D1 games, with a kenpom of 285.  When Huger left, it was 286.  Just for context.

The game started off on the wrong track when Marcus Johnson got two fouls in the first 2 minutes.  As Coach said, he usually is not in foul trouble and therefore we build the game plan around him.  While he was out, Thomas had an off night and there was no one else to step up.  BG was +10 with Johnson in the game...and -16 when he wasn't.

Even so, BG led for the first few minutes and the game was tied 8 minutes in. EMU went on a 9-0 run.  They held the lead for the rest of the half, except BG was able to slice the lead down to 3 at the break.

BG shot 29% in the first half.

BG came out of the locker room strong, as they often do.  But this was not the second half we saw at WM.  The game was back and forth for the first 10 minutes. EMU scored 6 points in a row to go up 7 with 9 to play.  This time, they were able to sustain it and led the rest of the way.  They were up 9 with 5 minutes left.  BG chipped away and had the lead to 1 with 1:25 left. and EMU ball. They did not score again and lost by 6. 

The game went off at 68 possessions, which is probably good for BG.  We're probably not set up for real racing right now.

But the offense...EMU came in allowing 1.19 points per possession, a shockingly high number.  BG got .91, the best defensive performance for EMU this year. BG was 15 of 36 (41%) on 2FG, sadly only their third worst this year.  BG shot 23% from 3FG--the only worse game was MSU. Collectively, it was BG's second-worst shooting night of the year, eclipsed only by the odd-ball win over NM State.

BG was 10 of 25 inside the restricted area.  That's a wow.  And an additional 2 of 5 in the non-restricted paint area. Coach mentioned that BG missed transition corner 3s that "have to go down."

That had me curious, because you don't see us making corner 3s, which is supposed to be the highest percentage. We made 2 of 5 against Akron and just 1 since then.

EMU scored 1 point per possession, also a poor offensive night. They shot the ball well, taking 40% of their FGAs from 3FG and making 50%.  Only KC matched that percentage.  EMU had turnover issues, got beaten on the boards and were -7 to BG at the line---the preview had noted that they give up a lot of FTs. And still won by 6.

Marcus Johnson ended up with 18 in 25 minutes.  He was 2-4 on 2FG and 3-5 on 3FG. He was also 5-6 at the line.  Trey Thomas had 16, making 6-9 on 2FG but missing all 8 3FGs.  He was 4-4 at the line and had 4 turnovers. Jamai Felt looks a little better every game. He played 32 minutes, made 3 of 4 from 2FG including a sweet hook shot, and added 10 rebounds, 4 blocks and 4 steals. Campbell added 9 points, 5 rebounds and 3 steals. Exacte had 5 rebounds in 17 minutes.

So, at 2-3 BG plays Miami and UT next week, two legit contenders.  Looking worst case, you fall to 2-5 and probably need 8 wins to get to Cleveland, maybe 9.  This was a winnable game and losing it could end up being costly.