Stats do not always tell the whole story. If you look at the final score from BGSU men’s basketball’s game against Michigan State at the Breslin Center on Saturday night, an 86-72 loss, it points towards a blowout.
However, that couldn’t be farther from the truth.
“That was the best and the hardest double-digit win I’ve had in a long, long time. I would agree with that because it wasn’t double-digit,” Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo said postgame. “It’s kind of sad for them; it should’ve been a four-point game maybe. They played us that well.”
While moral victories are a real thing, Bowling Green came into the game seeking a win.
“This is year two with us running this program at Bowling Green, and we are getting to the stage of having an expectation to win; that was our primary message,” BGSU head coach Todd Simon said. “We didn’t schedule this for all the side stories and the fun parts. We came here to win, and that’s the mentality we want for our program.”
The Falcons led for over 24 minutes compared to MSU’s just over 10 minutes with an advantage. At one point, BG led by 12 against the Spartans on their home court.
However, foul trouble caught up with the Orange and Brown towards the end of the contest, ultimately leading to them not scoring a point in the final 7:11 of the game, allowing Michigan State to close on an 18-0 run.
“Seven of the guys don’t have a whole lot of Division I experience yet, so it puts us in a little bind,” Simon said. “We’re still trying to figure out minutes and rotations, which got us a little sideways in foul trouble.”
Senior forward Sam Towns fouled out for the third time in four games this season, while sophomore guard Braelon Green picked up four.
Trey Thomas also committed four fouls, which significantly hurt how BGSU’s offense operated in front of the rowdy Izzone student section and nearly 15,000 fans.
“Trey gets us organized; he does a nice job of getting the ball where it needs to go and getting set up. I think we got a little sped up when he went out,” Simon said. “He doesn’t get in foul trouble very often, and I am sure he will have games where he doesn’t, but he will learn from that and get better.”
Although they didn’t come away with an upset victory, the Falcons earned the respect of Izzo.
“You have to give them a lot of credit. If they can make shots like that, they are winning that league (Mid-American Conference),” Izzo said. “Bowling Green came after us and did some things as well or harder than anybody we played Tuesday night (No. 1 Kansas) to be honest about it.”
The game allowed Bowling Green to test themselves and see where they stand four games into the young season.
“We really focused on being great at the core values of what the Michigan State program is, with the toughness and defense and run the floor, and those are a lot of the things we believe in, so it was a good test of various common core values,” Simon said.
In the end, Saturday night served as a learning experience for the Falcons.
“Anytime you get an opportunity to play a program the caliber of Michigan State, it’s a big deal for us,” Simon said. “It was a good experience. They’re tough, and it really helped our team development; we are hopeful for some leaps from this game that we can grow on.”
