Falcons Host Duquesne to Open 2008 Slate

Bowling Green, after closing the 2007 calendar year with a home non-conference win, will look to begin 2008 the same way. The Falcons take on the Duquesne Dukes at 7:00 p.m. at the Anderson Arena, This is the last non-conference game for both teams.

BGSU vs. DUQUESNE
Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2008 • 7:00 p.m.
Anderson Arena (4,700) • Bowling Green, Ohio RECORDS: BGSU 5-6 (0-0 MAC) // Duquesne 9-3 (0-0 Atlantic 10
RADIO: Falcon Radio Network - Todd Walker and Kirk Cowan
SERIES: Duquesne leads, 13-9 // STREAK: BGSU - 2
LAST MEETING: BGSU 64, at Duquesne 62 (Dec. 5, 2001)

Complete game notes in .pdf format

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THE GAME

The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team, after closing the 2007 calendar year with a home non-conference win, will look to begin 2008 the same way ... but, the task will not be easy ... the Falcons of head coach Louis Orr will continue a season-long three-game homestand with a Wednesday (Jan. 2) game vs. high-scoring Duquesne University ... tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena (4,700) ... following the Duquesne game, the Brown and Orange will open the Mid-American Conference schedule with Saturday's (Jan. 5) home game vs. Ohio University.

THE OPENING TIP (STORYLINES)

• The Falcons are coming off a 52-48 home win over Eastern Illinois on Saturday night (Dec. 29)
• BGSU shot a season-low 29.1 percent from the field, but held the Panthers to just a 29.8% field-goal rate ...BG also controlled the boards, with a 53-38 rebounding advantage.
• The win over EIU snapped a four-game losing streak for the Falcons.
• BGSU allowed the Panthers to score just 13 points in the first half, holding EIU without a field goal for the final 10:24 of the opening period.
• Junior Nate Miller had a double-double in the game, with 17 points and 14 rebounds ... he tied his career rebounding best ... Miller's double-double was his first of the season, but the sixth of his career, the most among active Falcons.
• Duquesne is ranked sixth in the nation in scoring, according to the most recent NCAA statistics ... the Dukes are averaging 87.6 points per game this season through the season's first 12 games.
• Duquesne holds a 13-9 lead in the overall series with BGSU, but the Falcons have won each of this decade's two meetings.

LUCKY 13

The Falcons allowed Eastern Illinois to score just 13 points in the first half of Saturday's (Dec. 29) game ... BG had not held an opponent to so few points in a half in nearly four years, since the Falcons took a 31-13 halftime lead in a win over Northern Illinois on Feb. 18, 2004, an eventual 69-52 BGSU win ... as always, past single-game records are sketchy, but the Falcons have not held an opponent to fewer than 13 points in a half in over two decades ... such an event has not occurred since at least the 1983-84 season.

ABOUT THE FALCONS

• The Falcons enter the Duquesne game with a 5-6 record on the young season, and BG is coming off a 52-48 win over Eastern Illinois at Anderson Arena on Saturday night (Dec. 29) ... that victory snapped a four-game losing streak ... the Falcons opened the season with a three-point loss to Western Carolina, before posting a three-game winning streak ... those wins came over Belmont, Cincinnati and Morehead State.
• Temple snapped that streak by downing BG, 72-55 (Nov. 24), before the Brown and Orange bounced back with a 67-58 win at Furman to close the month of November ... the losses during the Falcons' four-game streak came to Oakland, Northern Colorado, Illinois State and Indiana State, with none of them by more than 11 points.
• The Falcons are 2-2 at home, 2-3 on the road and 1-1 in neutral-site games ... BGSU is averaging 65.6 points per game to the opponents' 66.4 ppg ... the Falcons shooting 44.6 percent from the field, while allowing the opponents to shoot just 39.3%.
• Individually, junior Nate Miller had a double-double in the win over Eastern Illinois, and has taken over the team's scoring lead ... Miller is averaging 13.4 points per game, and is second on the team with 6.3 rebounds per contest ... he leads the team in steals (1.7 spg) and is tied for second among active Falcons in assists (2.2 apg).
• Redshirt freshman Chris Knight is second on the team in scoring, and leads the Falcons in rebounding ... Knight has 13.0 points and 6.7 boards per game to date ... he leads BG with 59 field goals made.
• Junior Darryl Clements has 7.5 points and 3.5 rebounds per game ... he ranks third among active Falcons in scoring, is tied for second in assists (2.2 apg) and is fourth on the team in rebounding ... sophomore Marc Larson has 6.7 ppg, 3.3 rpg and 1.1 blocked shots per game ... he is tied for the team lead in the latter category, and is shooting 52.1% from the field (25-of-48).
• Freshman Joe Jakubowski and soph Otis Polk are averaging 6.4 and 4.5 ppg, respectively ... Jakubowski tops all active Falcons with 2.7 helpers per contest, and he also leads the Brown and Orange with 15 three-point field goals made and a 41.7% long-range percentage (15-of-36) ... Polk is tied with Larson for the team lead in blocks (1.1 bpg), and is shooting an impressive 60.6% from the floor, having gone 20-for-33 through 11 games.
• Junior Brian Moten has 3.5 ppg, and is shooting 50.0% from the field (16-of-32) and 46.2% from the three-point line (6-for-13) ... soph Ryan Sims is averaging 1.4 ppg, while freshman Cameron Madlock has seen action in three games ... sophomore Matt Karaffa made his collegiate debut in the Indiana State contest.
• Clements, Larson and Miller each have started all 11 games to date for first-year BGSU head coach Louis Orr ... Jakubowski has started each of the last three games, while Moten made his first start of the year in the EIU contest ... Knight started the first 10 games of the season, before coming off the bench in Saturday's game ... the Falcons went 13-18 overall and 3-13 in MAC play in 2006-07.

SCOUTING DUQUESNE

• Duquesne will enter Wednesday's game with an overall record of 9-3, and the Dukes are riding a three-game winning streak
• The Dukes are off to their best start to a season since 1979-80
• DU opened the season with a 6-0 record, before losing three contests in a row, to Drake, Pittsburgh and West Virginia ... the Dukes have bounced back to post home wins over Saint Francis (Pa.), Robert Morris and South Carolina Upstate, with the latter win coming on Sunday (84-66; Dec. 30)
• DU is 6-1 at home, 2-2 on the road and 1-0 in neutral-site games this season to date
• Individually, juniors Kojo Mensah and Shawn James are averaging 14.6 and 14.5 points per game, respectively ... Mensah, a guard, also leads the team in assists, with 4.3 per game, while F/C James has team-leading averages of 7.4 rebounds and 4.5 blocked shots per game ... he had a school and Atlantic 10 Conference record 12 blocks in a win at Oakland in November, and is just six shy of the DU single-season record
• Senior F/C Kieron Achara has 12.1 points and 4.6 boards per game to date
• Four other DU players have at least 7.8 ppg this year, including freshman G/F Bill Clark (9.4 ppg, 5.6 rpg) and junior guard Aaron Jackson (9.0 ppg)
• No fewer than 11 players have started at least one game this year to date for head coach Ron Everhart, with nine of those players having started at least five times
• The USC-Upstate game saw Clark, Jackson, James, Mensah and sophomore guard Jason Duty (2.7 ppg) in the starting five
• Everhart welcomed back eight letterwinners, including three starters, from last year's team that finished 10-19 overall and 6-10 in A-10 action
• Everhart has a record of 19-22 in his second season with the Dukes, and is 193-194 in his 14th year as a collegiate head coach

THE SERIES

The Falcons trail Duquesne, 13-9, in the all-time series between the teams, but BGSU has won the last two meetings ... the Falcons posted a 92-77 win in the 2000-01 season (Dec. 2, 2000), the last time the teams hooked up at Anderson Arena, and BG followed that up with a narrow 64-62 win in Pittsburgh the next year (Dec. 5, 2001) ... those are the only two series meetings since the 1984-85 season ... BGSU is 7-3 in home games, 2-9 in road games and 0-1 in neutral-site meetings vs. the Dukes ... the first series meeting came in 1947-48, and the teams met at least once in every season from 1951-52 through 1962-63 (including twice in 1951-52, 1952-53 and 1958-59) ... the complete list of BGSU-Duquesne series results can be found on page 59 of the 2007-08 BGSU media guide (available in pdf format here at BGSUFalcons.com), and a list of the most recent meetings can be found in the pdf version of these notes.

LAST TIME OUT

The Falcons struggled to find their shooting touch on Saturday night (Dec. 29) .... but, BGSU found other ways to get the job done, posting a 52-48 win over Eastern Illinois and snapping a four-game losing streak in the process ... junior Nate Miller had a double-double, with 17 points and 14 rebounds, to lead the BGSU cause ... Miller tied his career rebounding best ... freshman Joe Jakubowski very nearly had a double-double of his own, scoring nine points and pulling down a career-high 10 boards ... the Falcons shot a season-low 29.1 percent from the field, making just 16 baskets in 55 attempts ... but, BGSU's perseverance on the defensive end, combined with the Falcons' rebounding proclivity, paid dividends on Saturday night ... BG held Eastern to a similar FG percentage, allowing the Panthers to go just 17-of-57 (29.8%) from the floor ... the Brown and Orange also controlled the boards, with a 53-38 rebounding advantage ... for the visitors, Romain Martin scored 20 points, all in the second half ... Martin was the only Panthers player in double figures ... the Falcons got off to a slow start in the game, but would end the first half on a 13-0 run to take the lead for good ... BGSU held EIU without a field goal for the final 10:24 of the half, and took a 23-13 into the intermission ... the lead grew to 12 points, the largest of the game, as Miller hit a layup on the opening possession of the second half ... EIU, however, cut the Falcons' lead to three points on several occasions, including in the final minute ... a potential game-tying three-point try by Martin, however, was no good, and Miller grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 4.0 seconds left ... Miller missed his first free-throw try, but hit the second to give BG a four-point lead and clinch the victory ... the Falcons struggled from the free-throw line on the night, shooting just 54.5%, but had 19 more tries than the visitors ... BGSU had 33 FT attempts for the game, making 18, while the Panthers were 10-of-14 from the stripe.

CLEANING THE GLASS

The Falcons have outrebounded the opposition five times this season, and BGSU has done so in each of the last three games ... in those three contests - vs. Illinois State, Indiana State and Eastern Illinois), BGSU has averaged 40.0 rebounds to the opponents' 32.0.

LEADERS OF THE MAC

Entering the Duquesne game, the Falcons rank at or near the top of the Mid-American Conference in several team categories ... BGSU leads the MAC in field-goal percentage defense (39.3%) and blocked shots (4.18 bpg) ... the Falcons are second in the league in three-point FG pct. defense (30.0%).

FALCONS PICKED FOR SIXTH

The Falcons have been picked to finish sixth in the Mid-American Conference's East Division in the 2007-08 preseason poll ... the poll is the result of voting by members of the MAC News Media Association ... BGSU received 47 points in the poll, five fewer than Buffalo ... Kent State was the voters' choice to win the East Division, narrowly beating out Miami for that honor ... Ohio and Akron were tabbed to place third and fourth, respectively, followed by UB and BGSU ... Western Michigan was picked to win the West Division, nearly 30 points ahead of Toledo ... KSU received seven votes to win the MAC Tournament, while WMU received six and Ohio and Miami five apiece ... the Falcons received one vote to win the league tourney, which will be held at Quicken Loans Arena in downtown Cleveland from March 12-15, 2008 ... the MAC portion o' the schedule begins Saturday (Jan. 5), when the Falcons host Ohio University at 4:00 p.m. at Anderson Arena.