The BG men’s basketball team will tip-off against Mid-American Conference West Division leaders Western Michigan at the Stroh Center 7 p.m. Wednesday.
The Falcons are coming off a 72-63 loss to Ohio this past Saturday. Before the defeat, BG won its previous two games against Ball State 70-59 at home and Northern Illinois 57-41 on the road.
BG leads the Broncos in their all-time series 67-45 and won in Kalamazoo, Mich. this past year 72-48. However, the last time Western Michigan came to Bowling Green —during the 2010-11 season — it was able to come away with a 75-61 win.
The Broncos are currently 15-8 on the season and tied for the MAC-West Division lead with Toledo.
Western Michigan started the season with a 63-55 loss against the Cornell Big Red, but responded by winning the next six games against Marygrove College, Loyola (IL), Maryland-Eastern Shore, South Florida, High Point and Oakland.
Once November ended, the Broncos went into a slump, winning only three games in a nine-game span that started Dec. 1 and ended Jan. 12. Their wins were against Oakland Dec. 1, at High Point Dec. 16 and against Mount St. Mary’s Dec. 22.
Four of their six losses during that time came against teams that have high-chances to see NCAA tournament action in March. On Dec. 4, they lost to the then-ranked No. 3 Michigan Wolverines 73-41 in Ann Arbor, Mich. The following game they lost to Illinois State 85-63 in Normal, Ill. Their next loss came on Dec. 19 in Pittsburgh against Duquesne 71-66.
The Broncos went on a three-game winless streak after defeating Mount St. Mary’s Dec. 22. They traveled to Raleigh, N.C. Dec. 29 to take on then-ranked No. 23 North Carolina State Wolfpack, but lost 84-68.
After their loss to North Carolina State, the Broncos dropped their two conference games to Akron (65-43) and Ohio (61-59).
After starting conference play 0-2, WMU went on a seven-game win streak, which included wins against Toledo at home, on the road at Northern Illinois, Eastern Michigan at home, at Central Michigan, on the road at Miami, and Buffalo and Kent State on their home court. The Broncos were then upset at Ball State 65-62 this past Saturday.
The Falcons have six more conference games and two non-conference games left in the 2012-13 campaign, including tonight’s contest against Western Michigan.
Before taking a break from conference games, the Falcons will travel to take on MAC leader Akron Saturday. Following that game, the Falcons will host Division-I independent New Orleans on Feb. 21 and then travel to Fort Wayne, Ind. to take on the IPFW Mastodons in the annual BrackBuster game Feb. 23.
BG will then finish its season with home games against Miami Feb. 27, Ohio March 2, an away game against Kent on March 5 and finishing with Buffalo at the Stroh Center March 8.
