The BG men’s basketball team is returning to the court on Wednesday to open up Mid-American Conference play at Central Michigan.
The team is also looking to break the four-game losing streak collected over winter break. They lost to Michigan State, South Florida, North Dakota and Temple.
BG’s non-conference portion of their schedule is complete and will be starting Mid-American Conference games this week with matchups at Central Michigan on Wednesday and a home game against Eastern Michigan on Saturday.
The first MAC opponent, Central Michigan, is the team that ended the Falcons’ championship and NCAA tournament chances last year in the first round of the MAC Tournament. The 10-20 Chippewas came to the Stroh Center and upset BG 54-53 after taking the lead with under two minutes left in the game.
During the 2011-12 regular season, the Falcons defeated Central Michigan at home 71-58, but BG has not played in Mt. Pleasant, Mich. since February 2011 — that game ended in a 69-64 Chippewa victory
Though losing four-straight games, sophomore Richaun Holmes has been one of the most defensively-dominant players in the country. Holmes has recorded 35 blocks in the first 13 games of the season and averages 2.7 blocks per game, which ranks him No. 18 in the country in that category.
Holmes has also blocked 16.5 percent of opponent’s shots while he is on the court — this is the fourth best percentage in the country behind Arizona State’s Jordan Bachynski (17.2), St. John’s’ Chris Obekpa (19.2) and Kansas’ Jeff Withey (19.7).
If Holmes continues to block opponents the way he has in the first 13 games of the season, he will be on pace to record 83 blocks during the regular season. Holmes will shatter BG’s single season blocks record by 24.
Central Michigan has two players who are in the top-20 in two categories. Senior guard Kyle Randall is No. 15 in free throw percentage, making 90.1 percent of his free throws.
Freshman guard Chris Fowler is tied with Michigan’s Trey Burke at No. 11 for assist percentage with 41.2 percent — Ohio’s D.J. Cooper leads the nation with 52.5 percent.
BG (5-8) tip-off for MAC play at Central Michigan (7-6) is at 7 p.m. in Mt. Pleasant, Mich. The Falcons will return to the Stroh Center on Saturday when they will host the 7-6 Eastern Michigan Eagles at 6 p.m.
