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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Saturday, November 14
Bowling Green, Ohio
1:00 PM
Bowling Green State University
vs
Wayne State
Curtain Rises On Season Saturday; Ring Ceremony To Take Place
November 10, 2009 | Men's Basketball
Complete Game Notes vs. Wayne State (.pdf)
FOUR THINGS TO KNOW
• Prior to Saturday's opening tip, there will be a ring ceremony and banner unveiling to recognize the team's Mid-American Conference regular season championship in 2008-09.
• Bowling Green returns seven players, but just two starters, from last year's squad. The Falcons graduated their top three scorers from a year ago.
• Wayne State is an NCAA Division II program that returns four players who started at least 11 games from a team that went 12-15 overall a year ago, including a 10-12 mark in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Wayne State has designated this contest as an exhibition game for their own team, something is allowed because they are an NCAA Division II program.
• Wayne State Head Coach David Greer is a 1983 Bowling Green graduate who played four years for the Falcons. He is BG's career assists leader with 768 and ranks seventh with an 81.2 career free-throw percentage.
THE SERIES
When the Bowling Green men's basketball team defeated Wayne State 80-48 in the season opener a year ago, it marked just the second time the two programs have faced each other. Back on Dec. 17, 1942, Harold Anderson's squad defeated Wayne 64-41 in the only other meeting. It will be the first time the Falcons have played back-to-back home openers against the same team since defeating Defiance in 1993 and 1994.
SCOUTING THE WAYNE STATE WARRIORS
Wayne State returns three starters and seven letterwinners from last year's 12-15 club. The Warriors return three of their top four scorers, including Bryan Wright, who averaged 14.1 points and shot 42 percent from three-point range. Bryan Smother scored 10.4 points per game last year and is another deep threat who shot 41 percent from long range. With just two players taller than 6-foot-5, including transfer Ike Udanoh from Long Island, Wayne State will need to find a way to neutralize Bowling Green's bruising front line down low. The Warriors did bring in three NCAA Division I transfers in hopes of infusing their roster with talent.
THE COACHES
Bowling Green Head Coach Louis Orr has just about done it all. As a player at Syracuse, he made four NCAA Tournament appearances and spent eight years in the NBA. As a coach, he was named Big East Coach of the Year at Seton Hall and was named Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year after guiding the Falcons to the MAC regular season crown in 2008-09. He has a career record of 132-111 beginning his ninth season and 32-31 in his first two years at Bowling Green. Wayne State's David Greer enters his 10th season as a head coach with a career mark of 130-120. He is 113-108 in eight seasons at Wayne State.
QUICK STARTS
Bowling Green won last year's season opener in dramatic fashion, pulling out a 77-76 overtime win over Georgia State in the NABC Classic in Minneapolis, Minn. In fact, the Falcons are 68-26 all-time in season openers despite losing four of their last seven. BGSU is even more impressive in home openers, having won 17 straight dating back to a loss to Findlay to open the 1991-92 home schedule and is 82-12 all-time, including 44-5 in Anderson Arena.
COACHING PEDIGREE
Bowling Green State University men's basketball coach Louis Orr was named the 2008-09 Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year by vote of the MAC News Media Association. It is the second time Orr has received a conference Coach of the Year award. He was named the Big East Coach of the Year following the 2002-03 season after guiding Seton Hall to the NIT. In the offseason, Orr signed a contract extension which lasts through the 2013-14 season.
RIGHT HAND MAN
While Head Coach Louis Orr has a long history of success, assistant coach LaMonta Stone is also recognized as one of the best in the country. Over the summer, HoopScoop.com named Stone the fourth-best mid-major assistant coach in the country, while College Insider named him the 15th best mid-major assistant coach in the nation.
BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO
Bowling Green will need to replace three departed graduates from last year's MAC Championship team, including All-MAC First Teamer Nate Miller and All-MAC Honorable Mention Brian Moten. Just as important to that team was captain Darryl Clements. The trio started a combined 74 games last year and was the team's top three scorers, averaging 35.2 points combined. Miller led the team in scoring, rebounding and steals, while Moten was the team's top three-point threat. Clements finished second on the team in assists and steals.
ROAD WARRIORS
Bowling Green made an amazing transformation over the course of the 2008-09 season from a team that could not win on the road to one that became almost unbeatable away from Anderson Arena. The Falcons won six consecutive road games during one stretch for the first time since joining the MAC for the 1953-54 season. It was the longest conference road winning streak since the 2001-02 Kent State team won seven consecutive MAC road contests.
BLOCK PARTY, HOSTED BY OTIS
Senior Otis Polk broke the school record for career blocked shots with the first of his two blocks in a game against Akron last year. He enters his final season with 122, surpassing the old mark set by Tom Hall, with 117 from 1989-92. Polks 41 blocks last year ranked as the fifth-best total in program history and he set a career-high with five blocks against Western Michigan last year. Cornelius Cash set the BGSU single-season mark with 59 blocks in 1973-74 and Polk had the second-highest total, with 51, in 2007-08.
BASKETBALL U.
Bowling Green fans have the opportunity to see the best basketball in the Mid-American Conference night in and night out. The combined record of the men's and women's basketball teams last year was 48-19, including a 26-6 mark in conference play, easily the best in the conference in both. Bowling Green was the No. 1 seed for both the men's and women's tournament, the first time that has occurred in the MAC since Kent State was the top seed for both tournaments in 2002. It also marks the first time both the Bowling Green men's and women's teams qualified for postseason play since 1990.
DISSECTING THE SCHEDULE
Bowling Green will play host to six non-conference games (including the ESPNU BracketBusters contest against an opponent yet to be named) and will head on the road for seven more. That 13 game non-conference slate will be added to the 16 game MAC schedule for 29 total games, one less than a year ago. Eight of the team's 28 games against known opponents will take place against a team that competed in the postseason a year ago. Xavier was a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament, Temple was a No. 11 seed, and Akron, who the Falcons play twice, was a No. 13 seed. Bowling Green will also play Buffalo twice and the Bulls competed in the College Basketball Invitational. Finally, Kent State played in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament and will face the Falcons twice in MAC play.
PICKED FIFTH
Despite winning the Mid-American Conference regular season championship a year ago, the MAC News Media Panel picked the Falcons to finish finish in the East Division in 2009-10. Bowling Green had 54 total points, including one first-place vote, to finish in front of Ohio. Defending MAC Tournament champion Akron was selected to win the East, followed by Kent State, Buffalo, and Miami (Ohio). Central Michigan was picked to win the West, followed by Northern Illinois, Eastern Michigan, Ball State, Western Michigan, and Toledo. The Falcons also did not have a player selected to the preseason East Division All-MAC team.
DEFENSE WINS
Bowling Green's defense was crucial to the team's success in 2008-09 as the Falcons held 26 of their 33 opponents below 45 percent shooting, allowing less than 70 points on 26 occasions. The Falcons are just 3-12 in Head Coach Louis Orr's two seasons when an opponent reaches that 45 percent threshold. For the season, opponents shot just .393 which was the lowest total since the 1963-64 team held teams to .390. As well, the team held opponents to just 61.2 points per game, the lowest total since the 1949-50 team kept opponents to 58.3 points per game. Obviously, the 2008-09 season was a historically significant one on the defensive end. As an example, Bowling Green held Detroit to only 22.7 percent shooting in an 87-37 win as the Titans set an Anderson Arena record by making just 10 field goals in the entire contest and had only two assists.
WE MUST PROTECT THIS HOUSE (THAT ROARS)
Anderson Arena has always been a difficult place for opponents and the Falcons went 10-4 at home in 2008-09, beating teams by an average of 8.2 points per game. The Falcons are 447-180 (.713) all-time in Anderson Arena and 161-54 (.749) in the past 16 years.
THE NEW CLASS
Bowling Green features seven new players in 2009-10 as well as a new assistant coach. Junior Darion Goins sat out last year after transferring from San Jose State and redshirt freshman A'uston Calhoun will be in uniform for the first time. As well, four true freshmen will get their first taste of collegiate basketball. Danny McElroy, Jordon Crawford, Luke Kraus, and James Erger will all suit up for the Falcons while freshman DaVon Haynes will redshirt in 2009-10. Along with those seven players, Dennis Hopson has joined Bowling Green's coaching staff as an assistant. Hopson is well-known from his days as a player at Ohio State as well as building a solid career in the NBA and winning a World Championship as a member of the Chicago Bulls.
IT WILL STILL ROAR
On Sept. 3, Bowling Green State University broke ground on the Stroh Center, the new home of Bowling Green men's and women's basketball and volleyball. Anderson Arena, "The House That Roars", will continue to host the Falcons through the end of the 2010-11 season. The Stroh Center will seat approximately 4,700 fans and is located near Doyt Perry Stadium. While Anderson Arena was named after Harold "Andy" Anderson, a long time BGSU athletics director and men's basketball coach who is also a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, the Stroh Center will continue to honor him. The club area in the new facility has been named the Anderson Club.
GIANT KILLERS AT THE HOUSE THAT ROARS
When the Falcons beat then-No. 23 Kent State on March 1, 2008, it was the team's fourth consecutive home win vs. a nationally-ranked opponent. BGSU defeated fifth-ranked Michigan State (all rankings according to Associated Press) in December of 1990, topped No. 23 Eastern Michigan on Valentine's Day, 1996, and defeated No. 25 Miami in February of 1999. The Brown and Orange's last home loss to a top 25 opponent came three decades ago to No. 16 Marquette on Dec. 6, 1978. Since the Associated Press began conducting a poll on Jan. 20, 1949, the Falcons have a record of 22-47 against nationally-ranked foes. BGSU is now 13-9 all-time in home games vs. AP Top-25 opponents, including a 7-5 mark since Anderson Arena opened prior to the 1960-61 season.
AROUND THE DIAL
Bowling Green will be on regional and national television a number of times this year. All BGSU home games not being broadcast nationally appear locally on BCSN on the Buckeye Cable Network. The Falcons will also be on FSN Ohio when the team hits the road to play Xavier on Nov. 17 and will be on the Big Ten Network when the team plays at Iowa on Nov. 20. The Feb. 27 home game against Akron will be broadcast on Fox Sports Net as part of a televised doubleheader with the BGSU women's basketball game that day.
CATCH THE FALCONS
• Bowling Green's men's basketball games can be listened to through the Falcon Sports Radio Network with Todd Walker, the voice of the Falcons, handling the play-by-play duties. Former Bowling Green basketball player Kirk Cowan does the color commentary at all BGSU home games as well. Games can be heard on the flagship station for BGSU athletics, WFRO 99.1 FM. Games can also be heard on WCWA 1230 AM in Toledo, WIMA 1150 AM in Lima, WONW 1230 AM in Defiance, and in Cleveland on both WHKW 1120 AM and WHK 1420 AM.
• All game broadcasts and the Falcons Nest Coaches Show can be heard via live stream on the official site of Falcon athletics, www.BGSUfalcons.com. Shortly after broadcasts are complete, an archived stream is available to listen to as well.
• Live statistics for all BGSU home men's basketball games are available on the web, allowing fans to view in-game stats as they occur, and may be accessed by going to www.BGSUFalcons.com. Falcon fans can utilize live stats for home events in numerous BGSU sports, including football, men's and women's basketball, hockey, men's and women's soccer, volleyball, baseball and softball.
FOUR THINGS TO KNOW
• Prior to Saturday's opening tip, there will be a ring ceremony and banner unveiling to recognize the team's Mid-American Conference regular season championship in 2008-09.
• Bowling Green returns seven players, but just two starters, from last year's squad. The Falcons graduated their top three scorers from a year ago.
• Wayne State is an NCAA Division II program that returns four players who started at least 11 games from a team that went 12-15 overall a year ago, including a 10-12 mark in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Wayne State has designated this contest as an exhibition game for their own team, something is allowed because they are an NCAA Division II program.
• Wayne State Head Coach David Greer is a 1983 Bowling Green graduate who played four years for the Falcons. He is BG's career assists leader with 768 and ranks seventh with an 81.2 career free-throw percentage.
THE SERIES
When the Bowling Green men's basketball team defeated Wayne State 80-48 in the season opener a year ago, it marked just the second time the two programs have faced each other. Back on Dec. 17, 1942, Harold Anderson's squad defeated Wayne 64-41 in the only other meeting. It will be the first time the Falcons have played back-to-back home openers against the same team since defeating Defiance in 1993 and 1994.
SCOUTING THE WAYNE STATE WARRIORS
Wayne State returns three starters and seven letterwinners from last year's 12-15 club. The Warriors return three of their top four scorers, including Bryan Wright, who averaged 14.1 points and shot 42 percent from three-point range. Bryan Smother scored 10.4 points per game last year and is another deep threat who shot 41 percent from long range. With just two players taller than 6-foot-5, including transfer Ike Udanoh from Long Island, Wayne State will need to find a way to neutralize Bowling Green's bruising front line down low. The Warriors did bring in three NCAA Division I transfers in hopes of infusing their roster with talent.
THE COACHES
Bowling Green Head Coach Louis Orr has just about done it all. As a player at Syracuse, he made four NCAA Tournament appearances and spent eight years in the NBA. As a coach, he was named Big East Coach of the Year at Seton Hall and was named Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year after guiding the Falcons to the MAC regular season crown in 2008-09. He has a career record of 132-111 beginning his ninth season and 32-31 in his first two years at Bowling Green. Wayne State's David Greer enters his 10th season as a head coach with a career mark of 130-120. He is 113-108 in eight seasons at Wayne State.
QUICK STARTS
Bowling Green won last year's season opener in dramatic fashion, pulling out a 77-76 overtime win over Georgia State in the NABC Classic in Minneapolis, Minn. In fact, the Falcons are 68-26 all-time in season openers despite losing four of their last seven. BGSU is even more impressive in home openers, having won 17 straight dating back to a loss to Findlay to open the 1991-92 home schedule and is 82-12 all-time, including 44-5 in Anderson Arena.
COACHING PEDIGREE
Bowling Green State University men's basketball coach Louis Orr was named the 2008-09 Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year by vote of the MAC News Media Association. It is the second time Orr has received a conference Coach of the Year award. He was named the Big East Coach of the Year following the 2002-03 season after guiding Seton Hall to the NIT. In the offseason, Orr signed a contract extension which lasts through the 2013-14 season.
RIGHT HAND MAN
While Head Coach Louis Orr has a long history of success, assistant coach LaMonta Stone is also recognized as one of the best in the country. Over the summer, HoopScoop.com named Stone the fourth-best mid-major assistant coach in the country, while College Insider named him the 15th best mid-major assistant coach in the nation.
BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO
Bowling Green will need to replace three departed graduates from last year's MAC Championship team, including All-MAC First Teamer Nate Miller and All-MAC Honorable Mention Brian Moten. Just as important to that team was captain Darryl Clements. The trio started a combined 74 games last year and was the team's top three scorers, averaging 35.2 points combined. Miller led the team in scoring, rebounding and steals, while Moten was the team's top three-point threat. Clements finished second on the team in assists and steals.
ROAD WARRIORS
Bowling Green made an amazing transformation over the course of the 2008-09 season from a team that could not win on the road to one that became almost unbeatable away from Anderson Arena. The Falcons won six consecutive road games during one stretch for the first time since joining the MAC for the 1953-54 season. It was the longest conference road winning streak since the 2001-02 Kent State team won seven consecutive MAC road contests.
BLOCK PARTY, HOSTED BY OTIS
Senior Otis Polk broke the school record for career blocked shots with the first of his two blocks in a game against Akron last year. He enters his final season with 122, surpassing the old mark set by Tom Hall, with 117 from 1989-92. Polks 41 blocks last year ranked as the fifth-best total in program history and he set a career-high with five blocks against Western Michigan last year. Cornelius Cash set the BGSU single-season mark with 59 blocks in 1973-74 and Polk had the second-highest total, with 51, in 2007-08.
BASKETBALL U.
Bowling Green fans have the opportunity to see the best basketball in the Mid-American Conference night in and night out. The combined record of the men's and women's basketball teams last year was 48-19, including a 26-6 mark in conference play, easily the best in the conference in both. Bowling Green was the No. 1 seed for both the men's and women's tournament, the first time that has occurred in the MAC since Kent State was the top seed for both tournaments in 2002. It also marks the first time both the Bowling Green men's and women's teams qualified for postseason play since 1990.
DISSECTING THE SCHEDULE
Bowling Green will play host to six non-conference games (including the ESPNU BracketBusters contest against an opponent yet to be named) and will head on the road for seven more. That 13 game non-conference slate will be added to the 16 game MAC schedule for 29 total games, one less than a year ago. Eight of the team's 28 games against known opponents will take place against a team that competed in the postseason a year ago. Xavier was a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament, Temple was a No. 11 seed, and Akron, who the Falcons play twice, was a No. 13 seed. Bowling Green will also play Buffalo twice and the Bulls competed in the College Basketball Invitational. Finally, Kent State played in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament and will face the Falcons twice in MAC play.
PICKED FIFTH
Despite winning the Mid-American Conference regular season championship a year ago, the MAC News Media Panel picked the Falcons to finish finish in the East Division in 2009-10. Bowling Green had 54 total points, including one first-place vote, to finish in front of Ohio. Defending MAC Tournament champion Akron was selected to win the East, followed by Kent State, Buffalo, and Miami (Ohio). Central Michigan was picked to win the West, followed by Northern Illinois, Eastern Michigan, Ball State, Western Michigan, and Toledo. The Falcons also did not have a player selected to the preseason East Division All-MAC team.
DEFENSE WINS
Bowling Green's defense was crucial to the team's success in 2008-09 as the Falcons held 26 of their 33 opponents below 45 percent shooting, allowing less than 70 points on 26 occasions. The Falcons are just 3-12 in Head Coach Louis Orr's two seasons when an opponent reaches that 45 percent threshold. For the season, opponents shot just .393 which was the lowest total since the 1963-64 team held teams to .390. As well, the team held opponents to just 61.2 points per game, the lowest total since the 1949-50 team kept opponents to 58.3 points per game. Obviously, the 2008-09 season was a historically significant one on the defensive end. As an example, Bowling Green held Detroit to only 22.7 percent shooting in an 87-37 win as the Titans set an Anderson Arena record by making just 10 field goals in the entire contest and had only two assists.
WE MUST PROTECT THIS HOUSE (THAT ROARS)
Anderson Arena has always been a difficult place for opponents and the Falcons went 10-4 at home in 2008-09, beating teams by an average of 8.2 points per game. The Falcons are 447-180 (.713) all-time in Anderson Arena and 161-54 (.749) in the past 16 years.
THE NEW CLASS
Bowling Green features seven new players in 2009-10 as well as a new assistant coach. Junior Darion Goins sat out last year after transferring from San Jose State and redshirt freshman A'uston Calhoun will be in uniform for the first time. As well, four true freshmen will get their first taste of collegiate basketball. Danny McElroy, Jordon Crawford, Luke Kraus, and James Erger will all suit up for the Falcons while freshman DaVon Haynes will redshirt in 2009-10. Along with those seven players, Dennis Hopson has joined Bowling Green's coaching staff as an assistant. Hopson is well-known from his days as a player at Ohio State as well as building a solid career in the NBA and winning a World Championship as a member of the Chicago Bulls.
IT WILL STILL ROAR
On Sept. 3, Bowling Green State University broke ground on the Stroh Center, the new home of Bowling Green men's and women's basketball and volleyball. Anderson Arena, "The House That Roars", will continue to host the Falcons through the end of the 2010-11 season. The Stroh Center will seat approximately 4,700 fans and is located near Doyt Perry Stadium. While Anderson Arena was named after Harold "Andy" Anderson, a long time BGSU athletics director and men's basketball coach who is also a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, the Stroh Center will continue to honor him. The club area in the new facility has been named the Anderson Club.
GIANT KILLERS AT THE HOUSE THAT ROARS
When the Falcons beat then-No. 23 Kent State on March 1, 2008, it was the team's fourth consecutive home win vs. a nationally-ranked opponent. BGSU defeated fifth-ranked Michigan State (all rankings according to Associated Press) in December of 1990, topped No. 23 Eastern Michigan on Valentine's Day, 1996, and defeated No. 25 Miami in February of 1999. The Brown and Orange's last home loss to a top 25 opponent came three decades ago to No. 16 Marquette on Dec. 6, 1978. Since the Associated Press began conducting a poll on Jan. 20, 1949, the Falcons have a record of 22-47 against nationally-ranked foes. BGSU is now 13-9 all-time in home games vs. AP Top-25 opponents, including a 7-5 mark since Anderson Arena opened prior to the 1960-61 season.
AROUND THE DIAL
Bowling Green will be on regional and national television a number of times this year. All BGSU home games not being broadcast nationally appear locally on BCSN on the Buckeye Cable Network. The Falcons will also be on FSN Ohio when the team hits the road to play Xavier on Nov. 17 and will be on the Big Ten Network when the team plays at Iowa on Nov. 20. The Feb. 27 home game against Akron will be broadcast on Fox Sports Net as part of a televised doubleheader with the BGSU women's basketball game that day.
CATCH THE FALCONS
• Bowling Green's men's basketball games can be listened to through the Falcon Sports Radio Network with Todd Walker, the voice of the Falcons, handling the play-by-play duties. Former Bowling Green basketball player Kirk Cowan does the color commentary at all BGSU home games as well. Games can be heard on the flagship station for BGSU athletics, WFRO 99.1 FM. Games can also be heard on WCWA 1230 AM in Toledo, WIMA 1150 AM in Lima, WONW 1230 AM in Defiance, and in Cleveland on both WHKW 1120 AM and WHK 1420 AM.
• All game broadcasts and the Falcons Nest Coaches Show can be heard via live stream on the official site of Falcon athletics, www.BGSUfalcons.com. Shortly after broadcasts are complete, an archived stream is available to listen to as well.
• Live statistics for all BGSU home men's basketball games are available on the web, allowing fans to view in-game stats as they occur, and may be accessed by going to www.BGSUFalcons.com. Falcon fans can utilize live stats for home events in numerous BGSU sports, including football, men's and women's basketball, hockey, men's and women's soccer, volleyball, baseball and softball.
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