Exhibitions Against Michigan State, Dayton Mark Beginning Of 2025-26 Men’s Basketball Campaign

Thursday, October 23

East Lansing, Mich.

7 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

#22 Michigan State

Exhibitions Against Michigan State, Dayton Mark Beginning Of 2025-26 Men’s Basketball Campaign

October 21, 2025 | Men's Basketball

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Falcons To Take On Spartans On Oct. 23, Flyers On Oct. 27

By: by Kyle Edmond, BGSU Athletics

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team will begin the 2025-26 season with a pair of exhibitions on the road. BGSU will first head north to East Lansing, Mich. to face Michigan State on Thursday (Oct. 23) with a 7 p.m. start. From there, the Falcons will migrate south to go against the Dayton Flyers on Monday (Oct. 27) with another 7 p.m. tip. The game between BGSU and MSU will be broadcast on BIG+, but the game against Dayton will not have a video stream.

Opening Tip
The Falcons will play two exhibitions ahead of the 2025-26 campaign, taking on both Michigan State and Dayton on the road. Bowling Green enters the third season under head coach Todd Simon. During his time with the Orange and Brown, BGSU has posted a record of 34-32. The Falcons will return six players that saw the court for BGSU during the 2024-25 season, including 2024-25 MAC All-Defensive and All-MAC Third Team selection Javontae Campbell. The official start to the 2025-26 season for the Falcons will be at home against Texas State on Nov. 3, the first of three-straight home games to start the season.

Campbell Earns Preseason All-MAC
Entering the 2025-26 season, Javontae Campbell was named among the MAC's Preseason All-MAC teams, being one of 10 players in total named. Campbell was listed as a Preseason All-MAC First Team selection alongside Akron's Tavari Johnson, Kent State's Delrecco Gillespie, Miami (OH)'s Peter Suder and Ohio's Jackson Paveletzke. Campbell is coming off an All-MAC Third Team selection, aiding in the continuation of BGSU's streak of 24 consecutive seasons with at least one All-MAC selection.

Give Campbell A Hand… Or Two
Last season, Javontae Campbell broke the program's single-season record for steals in a season with 90, finishing tied for fifth in MAC history and fourth in the nation for the season. Campbell did so with injuries to both hands the back half of the season. Now, Campbell is one of six Falcons to return that saw action last season for BGSU and is coming off MAC All-Defensive and All-MAC Third Team selections. Entering the season, Campbell is 58 steals away from cracking the program's Top 10 for career steals. The record is held by now BGSU assistant coach Anthony Stacey with 226 from 1996-2000.

Falcons Reload Roster
This year, the Falcons will roster a total of 17 players with 10 of those 17 being new to the program this season. While this will be the third-straight season with 10 newcomers for BGSU, the increase in roster size from last year's 15 improves the percentage of returners for BGSU. For the 10 newcomers, five come from D-I or D-II, two from JUCO and three will be listed as true freshmen.

Scouting The Spartans
Michigan State heads into the season coming off a 30-7 standing in 2024-25, advancing to the Elite Eight. The Spartans will be led by Tom Izzo for his 31st season with the program. As for the players, the Spartans will be led by a quartet of captains, including Coen Carr, Carson Cooper, Jeremy Fears Jr. and Jaxon Kohler. The quartet have combined for more than 300 games at Michigan State. Fears leads the unit, starting 36 games last year while averaging a team-high 5.4 assists that ranked third in the Big Ten. Kohler started 34 games and ranked inside the top 10 in the Big Ten for rebounds per game with 7.5. Carr appeared in all 37 games for the Spartans as well. Bowling Green will mark the first test for MSU this season before a second exhibition on the road at UConn on Oct. 28. Their non-conference schedule for the regular season will also include home contests against Arkansas (Nov. 8) and Duke (Dec. 6). As for the series history between Michigan State and Bowling Green, the two met just last season. While Michigan State claimed an 86-72 final, Bowling Green led for over 24 minutes of game time. The difference came with an 18-0 run by Michigan State to close out the clock.

Scouting The Flyers
Dayton will enter the 2025-26 campaign after a 23-11 standing a season ago. The Flyers fell in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament, coming up shy to Saint Joseph's in overtime. Dayton went on to appear in the NIT, knocking off Florida Atlantic in the first round, but falling to Chattanooga in the second. For Dayton, they had three players selected to the Atlantic 10 Preseason Awards list. Javon Bennett, Amael L'Etang and Keonte Jones all received preseason honors. Bennett was named to the A-10 Preseason First Team as well as the All-Defensive Team while L'Etang was named to the Second Team and Jones to the Third Team. The Falcons will be the second opponent for Dayton this season. They previously hosted Penn State this past Sunday (Oct. 19) inside UD Arena for the CareSource Charity Exhibition Game. The Flyers captured a 78-62 victory in the contest, shooting 48.4-percent from the field while holding Penn State to a mark of 39.3-percent. Dayton was led by Keonte Jones with 17 points. L'Etang followed with 10 points and a team-high seven rebounds. As for the last regular season meeting between BGSU and Dayton, the Falcons and Flyers faced off on Dec. 9, 2014 with Dayton edging out a 56-52 win at UD Arena.

The Resident Veteran
Sam Towns will enter his fourth season with the Falcons, the longest-tenured player on the team. In the age of the transfer portal, Towns is the first player to spend four years on BGSU's roster since Isaac Elsasser and Chandler Turner (2019-23). Over his BGSU career, Towns has appeared in 52 games with 30 starts. Last year, he averaged 6.3 points and 7.0 rebounds per game through the first six games of the season before his year was cut short due to injury. He tallied double-digit rebounds in each of the first two games of the 2024-25 season as well with 10 against Southern Miss and 11 against Davidson.

Glowing Reviews For Glover
Troy Glover II will join the Falcons this year after being the Great Lakes Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year last season for the University of Missouri-St. Louis. For UMSL, Glover averaged 10.7 points, 8.6 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game. His 67 blocks ranked 10th in D-II while his 8.6 rebounds were second in the conference. Prior to UMSL, Glover recorded 103 blocks during the 2022-23 campaign for Trinity Christian College, ranking third in the country across all levels, earning CCAC Defensive Player of the Year honors. On top of the defensive accolades, Glover enters the season with 986 career points, needing 14 to reach 1,000 points at the collegiate level.

Keeping Up With Kimbrough
Jason Kimbrough Jr. comes to the Falcons with an impressive resume. Last year, Kimbrough tallied 181 assists for Highland Community College, tied for 15th in the nation for the NJCAA level. Kimbrough added three double-doubles with points and assists, including a 31-point and 10-assist outing as well as a 24-point and 12-assist game. The season for Kimbrough culminated in being named an NJCAA Division I All-America Honorable Mention as well as All-Region for the NJCAA's Region 4.

Scoring With Shackelford
Josiah Shackelford joins the Falcons after being named the Peach Belt Conference Freshman of the Year for Flagler last year at the D-II level. Shackelford added All-PBC Third-Team honors as well. The accolades came after he played in all 28 games for Flagler, including four starts. He averaged a team-high 15.8 points per game while shooting 49.0-percent from the field, 45.3-percent from three and 78.1-percent from the line.

Shopping Local
For one of the team's incoming freshmen, the Falcons didn't have to go far. Makhi Leach joins BGSU this season from nearby Toledo, Ohio, coming from Whitmer High School. At Whitmer, Leach played for BGSU legend, and now assistant coach, Anthony Stacey. For the Panthers, Leach was a two-time All-Ohio recipient, earning a No. 6 ranking in the state of Ohio by 247Sports. As a senior, he averaged 21.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.0 steals per game while leading the team to a Regionals appearance. As a junior, he also aided the team to a Final Four appearance.

Power Five Falcons
Bowling Green will welcome two newcomers from power five programs. Javon Ruffin joins from Colorado while Justin "JT" Thomas comes from Florida State. Ruffin appeared in 75 games over the last three seasons at Colorado, including 10 starts last season. As for Thomas, he appeared in 32 games for Florida State last season while shooting a 42.2-percent clip from the field. Thomas previously had stops at Queens (N.C.), Navarro College, Milwaukee and UTSA, but didn't see action with the Roadrunners.

We've Got It Goins On
Aiden Goins arrives to BGSU after spending the 2024-25 season with Walters State, earning All-TCCAA First Team honors. Goins averaged 15.8 points per game while shooting 53.4-percent from the field and 42.7-percent from behind the arc. He posted nine 20-point games, including a double-double with 21 points and 13 rebounds. Goins closed out his season stat line by averaging 5.3 rebounds per game.

Follow the Falcons
Be sure to follow the Falcons' men's basketball team on social media
Twitter - @BGSU_Athletics and @BGSUMBB
Instagram - 'bgfalcons' and 'bgsumhoops'
Facebook - 'BGSU Athletics' and 'BGSU Men's Hoops'
YouTube - 'Falcon Athletics'