For BG head coach Dan Dakich, getting his players pumped for a game doesn’t get much easier.

They’ve lost their last two games — something they hope not to do again.

They need a win to stay near the top of the Mid-American Conference standings.

And most importantly, they’re hosting arch rival Toledo.

“It’s a huge game, it’s always huge,” BG senior forward John Reimold said. “On top of that, both teams need to win this game; they’re going to come out crazy and so will we.”

The Rockets come into the game with a 7-7 record overall and a 3-2 MAC mark while the Falcons come in at 10-4 and 3-2 in the conference.

While Toledo’s record may not be flashy, the Falcons know the weapons that the Rockets have. These two battled down to the wire twice last season with the home team taking the win and the Rockets have many of the same players returning from last season’s team.

Guard Keith Triplett is the team’s leader. He was a first team All-MAC selection a year ago and is considered one of the best the conference has to offer this season. He’s leading the Rockets with 16.1 points per game while also averaging 4.3 boards, three steals and 2.8 assists per contest.

And it just goes down the line from there.

Florentino Valencia, Sammy Villegas, Justin Ingram and Allen Pinson round out the five returning starters for the Rockets.

The team has struggled at times this season with their shooting, connecting on only 43.8 percent of their shots. But Dakich knows how deceiving those numbers can be. He’s seen some of these guys play since they were in high school.

“I know that on four spots of the floor they have good shooters, five if Pinson plays,” he said then paused to think. “Let me put it this way, they can shoot the basketball.”

Even though the Rockets have all five starters returning from last season, the only player other than Triplett to start all 14 games is Justin Ingram, who is averaging 7.3 points and 4.8 assists per game this season. But the Rockets have five players other than their two guards that average over 5.7 points per game.

“Toledo’s a good basketball team,” Dakich said. “They’ve had a tough schedule but they play hard and they’re well- coached.”

On top of having rivals coming to town, the Falcons have to worry about improving on their game, something Dakich said they didn’t do in a 24-point loss to Ball State. A big problem in that loss, as well as their loss to Western, was their shooting.

BG is shooting 50 percent this season, but in the last two losses have only managed to hit 43 percent of their shots.

“You don’t shoot the percentage we shot [this season] on jumpers,” Dakich said. “If you rely on jumpers, like we did at Ball State, you’re going to shoot 40 percent.”

For BG — more so than shooting the lights out — winning the game is the main priority.

After starting the season 10-2, BG doesn’t want to feel two consecutive losses again.

“It’s not something we want to let happen again,” Reimold said. “When you lose two games in a row, you want to bounce back.”

This weekend will mean more for BG than just a simple rivalry game. It will be a chance for BG to prove to everyone, including themselves, that they are a championship caliber team.

The Falcons could come out firing on all cylinders, or fall flat on their faces.

“It’s something that has yet to be seen as to how we react [to two losses],” Almanson said. “A win Saturday will show how we react to that.”

The Falcons will host Toledo in front of a packed house, something BG has not seen at Anderson Arena in awhile.

“I’m glad it’s a sellout,” Dakich said. “I’m glad we’re going to have a big game in here.”

Tip-off for the battle of I-75 is set for 6 p.m. at Anderson Arena tomorrow.