BOWLING GREEN — Bowling Green State University’s men’s basketball team has gotten back on track defensively in its past two games.
Just in time, too.
After allowing at least 100 points in consecutive games for the first time in more than 50 years, the Falcons have responded with two of their best defensive performances of the season with wins over Miami (Ohio) and Central Michigan to conclude a wild four-game stretch. BGSU will be put to the test again Saturday when the Falcons travel to Toledo to face the high-scoring Rockets in the latest chapter of the Battle of I-75 rivalry.
The victories over Miami and Central Michigan followed a 108-92 loss at Western Michigan on Jan. 14 and 100-71 loss at Buffalo on Jan. 17.
“After those tough ones, we just went back to the drawing board, and we just continued to pay attention more to detail,” BGSU senior Chandler Turner said. “... We were lacking energy, so our main point of emphasis we had was energy and pay attention to detail on the defensive end, and we’ll be fine.
“Our offense is not the problem, the defense in those games, and we focused more on the defense the last couple weeks, and it’s paying off. It’s bringing us momentum.”
Injuries and illness have also played a big part in the Falcons surrendering triple digits in back-to-back games for the first time since the end of the 1971-72 season.
The Falcons are starting to get healthier, and it has helped them get back into the rhythm they had to start Mid-American Conference play.
Sophomore guard and starter Kaden Metheny returned after missing the Buffalo game with an illness, which impacted him against Western Michigan. Senior guard Isaac Elsasser also missed the Buffalo game with an illness.
■ Matchup: Bowling Green (10-10, 4-3 MAC) at Toledo (14-6, 5-2).
■ When: Saturday, 2 p.m.
■ How to watch: ESPN3.
■ Series lately: The series has been close of late with the teams splitting the last six matchups, but BGSU has won two of the last three games at UT.
Junior forward and starter Sam Towns, who has missed the past four contests with an upper body injury, could be available soon.
“We were hurting those two games,” BGSU coach Michael Huger said. “… It was just not having everybody back and trying to get everybody healthy.”
BGSU led Western Michigan 50-39 at halftime before allowing 69 points after the break to the Broncos, who had a 5-11 record entering the game. Buffalo scored 52 points in the second half of its matchup.
Keeping up the intensity has helped the Falcons the last two weeks, according to Huger. BGSU led Miami 43-33 at halftime en route to an 83-73 win and only allowed 23 first-half points to beat Central Michigan 83-61.
“No matter how many points you’re up, the game isn’t over until the horn sounds,” Huger said. “I thought we had a bad case of that at Western where we thought the game was over at halftime being up by so many.
“We almost had it a little bit against Miami, the same thing, but we were able to finish the game with a double-digit victory. But just the same thing, just never letting up, and I thought against Central, we finally had a better understanding of not letting up and we didn’t do that in the second half.”
BGSU, which has had 11 different players start at least two games this season, has gotten solid contributions from its bench all season.
Redshirt freshman forward Ubongabasi Etim (6-foot-9) and senior forward Gabe O’Neal (6-7) have seen their minutes increase significantly due to Towns’ injury. Etim has started the last four games and set career highs with four points, four rebounds, two steals, and one block against Miami, while O’Neal has played double-digit minutes and averaged just over five points and four boards during that span.
“It shows that we have depth as a team,” Turner said. “No matter what happens or who’s sick or someone might be out this game, we’ll be confident that we have someone behind them that’ll do the exact same thing, maybe even better.”
BGSU will be squaring off with a Toledo team that leads the MAC and is fourth in the NCAA in scoring at 84.8 points per game. Junior guard RayJ Dennis (18.4 points per game) and senior forward J.T. Shumate (18.2) are fourth and fifth, respectively, in the MAC in scoring.
Toledo has eclipsed 90 points six times this season, including 100 on three occasions.
The Falcons’ effort when the Rockets have the ball could go a long way in whether BGSU can win for the third time in the past four meetings at Savage Arena.
“We both do a good job of scoring the ball, and our coaches do a good job of getting each player into spots that they’re comfortable in,” BGSU senior guard and leading scorer Leon Ayers III said. “So for both teams, it’s just going to be a very hard, gritty defensive game, because we both know how to put the ball in the basket. But it’s just getting those important stops and those key stops and just wanting it more than them.”
First Published January 27, 2023, 7:15 p.m.
