When BG starts next season, they will have a 4-game road winning streak. The Falcons went to DeKalb and got it done, driving the Huskies to their 11th straight loss, which we may only hope they break Friday against CMU.
Though we don't need that. BG didn't get a lot of help in other games, but with a win, they will qualify to Cleveland. If they were to lose that one, they would need both Ball State and CMU to lose as well. Ball State plays @Miami while CMU hosts NIU.
Anyway, the Broncos are next. BG beat them earlier. They are playing better, winning 4 of their last 6, including beating MU and OU.
The NIU game featured two depleted teams. NIU probably has had a worse injury season than BG has, and they essentially played with a 6-man rotation while BG played with 7.
The early part of the game was close and it was tied at 24 with 7:21 left. Over the next 5 minutes, BG went on a 12-3 run to go up 9, but then did not score again and ended up leading by 5 at the break.
The first half featured 4 ties and 10 lead changes.
The second was mostly in BG's hands, but NIU was keeping it close. With 11 left, BG was up 2. On the next two possessions, BG found Felt for an alley-opp and a slam dunk. It seemed to spark the Falcons. The game was never closer than 7 again and BG was up more than 10 for the last 3 minutes or so.
And that's a win.
BG has been getting it done on defense. In their last 6 wins, they have held teams below 1.01 points per possession. The MAC average is 1.09. In this one, NIU had .85 points per possession which is BG's 4th best D1 game of the year. The amazing thing is that NIU took 68% of their shots from 3FG. That's just incredible...it's the highest against BG in the kenpom era, which dates to 1997. It's almost for sure the most ever.
The problem is, they only made 28%. That's a recipe for losing. They also made 33% from 2FG. That equals out to 39.5% EFG, third-best for the BG defense this season. BG shot well, making 46% from 2FG and 50% of their 3FGs. BG lost the turnover battle, and kept a terrible NIU rebounding team off the offensive boards. That's the second-lowest offensive rebounding percentage against BG in the kenpom era, the only lowest result being in 1997.
BG was 17 of 26 at the line, while NIU was 13 of 17.
Javonte Campbell had his string of 20+ games end, but just barely. He had 19 on 7 of 12 shooting. He was only only 5-9 at the line. He also had 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal and 3 turnovers.
Johnson had 17, but it was not the easiest night. He was 3 of 10 from 2FG and 2 of 3 on 3FG, and he also missed 2 FTs, ending his 32-FT streak. He had 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 turnovers.
Derrick Butler had 14 and 7 rebounds. Humphrey had 11 and 5 rebounds.
So, this is it. One last regular season game to come...
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