BGSU men’s basketball fell short in their Mid-American Conference (MAC) opener, losing 71-68 to the Akron Zips at the Stroh Center on Saturday night.
However, it was not all bad for the Falcons. Senior guard Trey Thomas dominated in the contest, returning to his early season form.
Thomas scored a season-high 19 points on 7-11 shooting and 4-7 from beyond the arc. He also added four rebounds, two assists and a season-high three steals.
The four three-pointers were one shy of his season-high five triples he hit in BG’s season-opener against Southern Miss on Nov. 4.
“I was just staying aggressive. I watched a lot of film this week on how they play defense, so I knew where I was going to get my shots and where I was going to get my looks,” Thomas said. “So, just staying aggressive, and I got amazing teammates that find me when I’m open.”
Outside of a few games, Thomas struggled to shoot the ball throughout non-conference play.
Coming into the game on Saturday, the senior averaged just 7.9 points per game on 33.7% shooting from the field, 31% from beyond the arc and 70% on free throws.
The drought had been in full effect over the past three games before the Akron matchup, with Thomas shooting 32.1% (9-28) from the field and 16.7% (2-12) from deep.
“We’ve got total faith in him. I’ve been through this before, where a guy that works that hard and puts in that much time in the gym, those shots are going to even out,” BGSU head coach Todd Simon said. “He went through maybe a little bit of a shooting slump over that first half of the season or so, and I got no doubt that those numbers even out, which bodes well for us.”
Time will tell if Thomas can turn the clock back and return to his Vanderbilt form, where he shot 39.8% from beyond the arc during his freshman campaign and drained 50 triples in his junior season, the second-most on the Commodores.
Next, Thomas and the Falcons will head to Kalamazoo, Michigan, to face the Western Michigan Broncos on Tuesday, Jan. 7 at 7 p.m.
