BGSU men’s basketball’s rough season continued on Saturday afternoon as the Falcons fell 68-62 to Eastern Michigan at the Stroh Center.
Bowling Green is now 7-10 overall and 2-3 in Mid-American Conference (MAC) play this season. If the MAC Tournament were to take place today, the Falcons would be the first team out.
“Disappointing performance,” head coach Todd Simon said. “Obviously, we prepared better than this, and to only score 62 points on 35% shooting at home is not acceptable for us.”
After a strong first couple of possessions, BG started the game slow, a common trend this season. After opening on a 5-0 run, the Falcons fell behind by nine after just over 11 minutes played.
“We have to find our own routine. Everybody got to find their own routine going into the game,” senior forward Marcus Johnson said. “I don’t know what it is, but guys need to just to start finding their own routine, what makes them go in that first half.
A major setback for BG in the first half was Johnson picking up two fouls in the first three minutes of the contest, which limited him to playing just over seven minutes in the first half.
“Marcus picking up two (fouls) early takes a lot of your game plan away. He’s a guy who’s not been in a lot of foul trouble, so you feel good building the game plan really around him and [Trey Thomas]. Trey struggled today, so you’re behind the eight ball there,” Simon said. “He’s such a focal point for our offense. So, now you’re eliminating half your game plan.”
However, the Falcons were never able to find anyone to step up while Johnson was off the court.
“But guys need to step up, and we didn’t really have anyone fill that void when [Johnson] was out for those minutes. In those 16 minutes when he’s not on the floor, we’re 16 points worse. That can’t be the case, and I don’t think we scored very much when he was on the floor. So, we’ve got to find other avenues to have guys kind of step up and fill that void,” Simon said. “We just didn’t have anyone to kind of fill that void.”
Bowling Green struggled shooting, making just 34.5% (20-58) of their shots from the field and 22.7% (5-22) from deep.
Meanwhile, Eastern Michigan shot 48% (24-50) from the floor and 50% (10-20) on 3-pointers.
Another glaring issue for the Orange and Brown throughout the game was their lack of transition offense. The Falcons forced 17 turnovers but were only able to score 10 points off the EMU mistakes.
“We were really poor at finishing in transition. I mean, we had to have missed a dozen layups in this game, which is something that we really work on at practice,” Simon said. “We’ve got to finish; there’s no ifs, ands or buts about that. You get 17 turnovers, you can’t score 10 points off it.”
The Falcons also lost the rebounding battle to the Eagles, 37-34.
“We got to come out the games harder, fighting harder on the boards. They came out, they got five offensive rebounds in the first couple minutes of the game, which got me in foul trouble,” Johnson said. “I feel like we just got to come out and play stronger. We can’t be having these mislapses at this time of the season.”
However, possibly the worst takeaway from the game was the lack of assists for Bowling Green. The Falcon’s offense was stagnant throughout the contest, which resulted in a season-low four assists.
“Right now, we got to start the sharing the ball a little more. I know we got guys who can score off the dribble, but we got to start finding each other more,” Johnson said. “It’s too many games we have under 10 assists, and that’s part of the reason why we’re shooting bad. I feel like once we start sharing the ball more, I feel like our shots will start falling.”
However, Simon believes getting healthier over the next few games can help solve some of their current problems.
“Hopefully, we’re getting some guys back sooner than later,” Simon said. “That’ll help alleviate having to play guys 40 minutes, 36 minutes, which is probably leading to a little bit of our issues in some ways. So, we’re encouraged by that.
The Falcons have a tough next three games, facing Miami (OH) (13-4, 5-0 MAC), Toledo (10-7, 4-1 MAC) and Kent State (11-6, 2-3). The RedHawks lead the conference, while the Rockets and Golden Flashes are both in the top-five in the standings.
“We’ll get back, roll up our sleeves and get to work,” Simon said. “We’re going to answer the bell and match these teams coming up.”
