If you stopped paying attention to Toledo men’s basketball after its loss to Kent State, dropping the Rockets to 1-2 in the Mid-American Conference, it’s probably time to tune back in.
UT is on a five-game winning streak, with said victories coming by an average of 12 points, and the Rockets find themselves just one game out of first place.
On Saturday, Toledo defeated archrival Bowling Green for the 13th time in the past 17 meetings. UT has won eight of those games by double digits, with its last single-digit win over BGSU coming in February of 2019.
■ Matchup: Toledo (15-6, 6-2) at Miami (7-14, 1-7).
■ When: Tuesday, 7 p.m.
■ TV: ESPN+.
■ Radio: 1370 AM in Toledo.
■ Last season: Toledo swept Miami (75-72 and 88-73).
“I know Dr. [Roger] Kruse likes it better for my heart when we win a little bit bigger. I feel a little bit better and so does my wife,” Toledo coach Tod Kowalczyk quipped. “But when you play against Bowling Green, just win by one. It doesn’t matter what you win by.”
EJ Farmer made sure Toledo won convincingly on Saturday. In the 91-77 win, Farmer scored a career-high 15 points off the bench and he was a team-best plus-32 in 27 minutes.
“I knew I had to step up once Ra’heim got in foul trouble,” Farmer said. “But I’m always going to be ready to go.”
His production didn’t go unnoticed. Bowling Green coach Michael Huger and Toledo point guard RayJ Dennis both singled out Farmer as being the difference in the game. He made an especially large impact in the first half, with eight points. During one sequence, he scored, stole the ball, and scored again.
“EJ was big for Toledo. Without the 15 points he scored…,” Huger said, trailing off. “That tells you right there he played well. He shot the ball well. Did a lot of things well.”
Added Dennis: “That was his best game of the season. Plus-32, that’s the game right here. Without him on the floor, who knows how it goes? He played great.”
During UT’s current winning streak, the bench has scored 72 points on 24-of-48 shooting, with 47 rebounds. They’re plus-41 over those five games.
Bench minutes have increased as well. According to figures calculated by KenPom, over the past five games, EJ Farmer has played 26 percent of the minutes at the 3 and 12 percent at the 2, Andre Lorentsson has played 18 percent at the 5, and Elijah Wilson has played 11 percent at the 2.
“It’s huge having great bench production,” Dennis said.
Another theme is turnovers. Toledo has scored 79 points off of 69 turnovers in the past five games. At the same time, UT has only turned it over 46 times while scoring 435 points.
The Rockets had back-to-back high-level games that featured a combined 331 points and 80 minutes of up-and-down action. Yet Toledo only turned it over eight total times.
“We’re trying to be the best in the country at playing fast and not turning the ball over,” Kowalczyk said. “Most of the teams that don’t turn it over play slow because they don’t want to play with risk.”
That is not the definition of the 2022-23 Toledo Rockets, who rank 33rd in tempo and eighth in turnovers, a remarkable combination. The rest of the top 10 nationally in turnover percentage has an average tempo ranking of 177, equating to the middle of the pack.
“We take pride in not turning the ball over, making the right play, and sharing [the basketball],” Dennis said.
The symphony of movement, control, and efficiency is why Toledo is in line for its third consecutive 20-win season and perhaps a third straight MAC title.
It also makes it easy for Kowalczyk to get out of bed in the morning and make his way to Savage Arena.
“I love watching them in practice,” he said. “I love going to work with them. I’m a lucky man because I have some high-character men and I have some coaches that are unbelievable. Mass [Jeff Massey], Jordan (Lauf), and Justin (Ingram), those three guys are just a pleasure to work with every day.”
First Published January 30, 2023, 7:00 p.m.
