Men's Basketball
Home Team: BGSU Falcons
Visiting Team: Central Michigan Chippewas
Venue: Anderson Arena (Bowling Green, Ohio)
Game Time: 7:00 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: None
What a tough game to lose. Due to an utterly crazy night in conference play, a win would have tied BG for first place in the MAC East. A game on our home floor, where we hadn't lost a MAC game yet this season, against a 9-11 CMU team, this is one we should have won.
The Falcons have a habit of starting games slowly when they play on the road, and unfortunately tonight they brought that trend home with them. They were down 19-4 at one point. The good part is that they were able to battle their way back into the game; the bad part, of course, is that they couldn't pull it out. If they hadn't dug themselves that hole, it might have been a different game.
I'd just like to point out that the officiating in this game was absolutely insane. You never really expect a well-officiated game in the MAC, but it's generally consistent within each game. Not this one. Seeing the stuff they called versus they stuff they let go, it was so unpredictable as to be completely arbitrary. This isn't really a complaint, just an observation--I saw BG players get away with plenty (although I also saw some really weak calls against them). Would a better officiated game have helped them? Who the hell knows?
I wasn't totally crazy about the way the game was played as the clock wound down. I'm not sure why our offense milked the clock with more than a minute remaining and a mere one-point differential (I think the Falcons were ahead at that point, but I'm not 100% sure)--the offense is not exactly a well-oiled machine, and dribbling the ball near the timeline until only 7 seconds are left on the shot clock doesn't give us time to find better options. Our fouling strategy with a 2-point lead and just seconds left in the game was questionable (we had fouls to give, but didn't). Clearing the floor for Nate Miller every single time down the floor in crunch time isn't the best option (he doesn't shoot free throws well, and thus gets fouled a lot, then doesn't score any points).
Looking at the box score, I see the Falcons didn't do too badly overall from the free-throw line this evening. Still, I don't feel like they shot well--they missed too many big ones in crunch time.
Beyond that, I'm not crazy about Darryl Clements being a primary ball-handler. He has a hard time creating space from the defender (he committed two five-second violations tonight) and doesn't always make smart decisions with the ball. He did a nice job getting some shots tonight, but I just think Joe Jakubowski should pretty much be the only guy bringing the ball up the floor. Play Ryan Sims for a few minutes here and there when Joe needs a break, and let Darryl do his thing away from the ball. I'd also like to see Chris Knight and Otis Polk get more touches offensively, as well as Brian Moten. Moten has really come on lately--I like his game, and we need to make it a point to get the ball into his hands even more.
So, a missed opportunity. This is still a young team learning a new system from a new coaching staff, and there are going to be games like this. Hopefully they'll learn from it and get better.
Now the Falcons look ahead to the game on Sunday with the hated Toledo Rockets at the House That Roars. I have a feeling that could be another barnburner, hopefully one with a better result.
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