After a two-game winning streak was snapped by an 85-77 loss to Kansas City, Bowling Green returns to the Stroh Center with a 4-6 record on the season to take on St. Thomas on Saturday, Dec. 21, with tip-off at 2 p.m.
The loss to Kansas City was the first ever loss for head coach Todd Simon coaching the Falcons in the month of December.
Bowling Green holds a 3-1 record when playing at home this season, a 91-85 loss to Davidson being the lone mark on the season at the Stroh Center.
Matchup History
The game between the Falcons and the Tommies is the first-ever matchup between the two teams in their respective histories.
Bowling Green
After two straight victories against New Mexico St and Morgan State, the Orange and Brown suffered an 85-77 loss to Kansas City to drop their record to 4-6 on the season.
With a record of 0-4 on the road, the Falcons return to the bread and butter of their season- home-court advantage. With a 3-1 record at the Stroh Center, the Falcons will look to extend their home winning streak to 4 games in a row.
Despite the away game struggles, the Falcons still are the second-highest-scoring team in the Mid-American Conference (MAC), averaging 78.6 points per game.
Defensively, the Falcons allow 74.4 points per game, placing them in the middle of the pack in terms of scoring defense in the MAC.
The Orange and Brown are still the best shooting team in the MAC- currently ranked first in both overall field goal percentage (46.9%) and three-point percentage (36.8%).
The Falcons enter the game still very thin after senior guard DaJion Humphrey, junior forward Greg Spurgin, senior forward Sam Towns and junior forward Youssef Khayat all missed last game with injuries.
Scouting St. Thomas
Heading into the Stroh Center, the St. Thomas Tommies stand with a 9-4 record on the season and have won 5 games in a row.
Their 9-4 record places them in second in the Summit League. St. Thomas’ last loss was a 69-65 loss to Milwaukee, nearly one month ago on Nov. 24.
Despite not having a player average above 15 points per game, the Tommies are scoring big, averaging 84.6 points per game (26th in the nation).
The Tommies dish out 17.1 assists per game (45th in the nation) to combine for a high-scoring offense.
St. Thomas has remarkably similar shooting splits compared to the Falcons. The Tommies shoot 49.6% from the field goal range and 39.8% from the three-point line.
Despite the high-scoring offense, St. Thomas allows 72.7 points per game and rebounds a low average as a team of 33.7 rebounds per game.
Falcon Four players to watch
Javontae Campbell (Bowling Green #2)
Javontae Campbell has been one of the best pickups for the Falcons this past offseason, averaging a team-high 16.6 points per game, while also being one of the top turnover masters in all of college basketball, averaging a team-high three steals per game.
Derrick Butler (Bowling Green #10)
Derrick Butler has been on fire recently for the Falcons. While he did score a low 11 points against Kansas City after a 35-point day against Morgan State, Butler averaged 14.6 points per game on his 24-25 campaign.
Butler has passed double-digit marks in scoring in 7/9 games this season.
Miles Barnstable (St. Thomas #14)
As mentioned earlier, the Tommies do not have a clear high-scoring player, but Barnstable still leads the team in scoring with 12.8 points per game.
The junior guard is coming off an eight-point night vs Crown College heading into the Stroh Center.
Right behind Barnstable, the second-leading scorer and leading rebounder for the Tommies is Kendall Blue, averaging 11.4 points and 4.2 rebounds per game.
