vs. Eastern Michigan (1/21)

[mbenecke]

Our Falcons (13-5, 4-1) are back at the Stroh on Tuesday night to take on the Eastern Michigan Eagles (10-8, 0-5) at 7:00pm. The game is available to stream on ESPN+, but it would be great if we could get a nice crowd in town for this one. It's Richaun Holmes Day, and he will be in the building to be honored, so it would be wonderful if we could have plenty of orange in the seats on Tuesday night.

EMU started the year 10-3, but they haven't won a game in MAC play just yet, though 3 of their MAC losses are by 6 or less. They're going to come into this game desperate, so we'll certainly have our hands full. I'm hoping we see a great effort for 40 full minutes.

Let's run this win streak to 5 and keep our position on top of the MAC standings.

[Globetrotter]

We won!

[mbenecke]

Good win! It was tough at times because we just couldn’t find the bottom of the net, but it was clear early on that we were the better team.

BG has now won 23 of their last 26 home games.

14-5 overall, 5-1 in the MAC. Long way to go, but I appreciate that we can grind these wins out.

[mbenecke]

I'm fairly happy with attendance last night. It was 2,022, which isn't near a sellout, but it's only the 4th time over 2K on a Tuesday night since I arrived on campus in the fall of 2016.

I wish more games could be like that. I loved having Richaun back, but I wish that wasn't the only thing people would come out for.

[BillyLP]

It was tough at times because we just couldn’t find the bottom of the net

This seems to be the story since Turner's initial injury. Our shooting has been pretty terrible, save Plowden (whose improvement can not be overstated). I hope Frye breaks this three pointer record soon. It feels like he's thinking about it with every shot he throws up.

[hammb]

It was tough at times because we just couldn’t find the bottom of the net

save Plowden (whose improvement can not be overstated).

Every time that Turner has struggled in recent games I've said to those around me how hard it is to win with your "best player" playing so medicore (although he finally had a nice hot stretch last night).

In the back of my mind I keep thinking that I'm not so sure Plowden isn't our best player. We don't get him the ball nearly as much as we should offensively. Of our top 5 ppg scorers he's the most efficient by a pretty wide margin. Of the guys who routinely shoot 3s he's second only to Diggs in percentage. He's leading our team in boards at 7.9 per game. He's also a versatile defender leading the team in blocks and 2nd in steals (only 1 back of Laster).

Maybe Plowden isn't the guy that we can toss it to and play ISO when we absolutely need a basket, but he has really blossomed this year. Last night he was the one guy moving around and finding space in the zone (if only our guards could actually pass to him).

I don't know if it's the record or what but we need to figure Dylan Frye out. He's a great, great kid. He's had some huge moments and shots for this program. But right now he's really hurting us more than he's helping us. Last night he didn't attempt a single 2pt FG. He's been our primary ball handler and only putting up an A:TO ratio of 1.57 (compared to Laster leading the MAC at 2.7). As nice as his range is to open up the floor, he's only shooting 30% and taking almost 7 threes a night. Love Dylan. Think he's miscast as a PG in the first place. But we absolutely must get him right if this team is going to win the tourney...and if he doesn't start playing better I think we'd be better served to give Laster some of his time.

[Class of 61]

Hambb,
Did your son get to meet Richaun?
How did the “ clinic” go?

[hammb]

Hambb,
Did your son get to meet Richaun?
How did the “ clinic” go?

The clinic was great! I'm not sure who the gentleman was who lead the group, but they had about 30 kids (Dexter was by several inches the smallest, and I"m betting youngest by years). They did a great job running ball handling drills for probably 30-40 minutes. Then they did some rebounding and got to attempt some shots. Then they did a full court buzzer beater attempt as well. Dexter had a great time with the ball handling drills, but got real discouraged and upset by shooting...a 4 year old cannot shoot a full size ball on a 10 foot rim and after one attempt he was pretty bummed. Unfortunately while he was sulking about his inability to shoot on that rim he missed the initial handshake line when Richaun was introduced. But he was back out there as Richaun talked with all the kids, got to shake his hand after that, and even got an autographed Richaun poster (as did all the kids, I believe).

Really was a pretty great event for the kids, especially since it was free.

[Roll Along!]

Hambb,
Did your son get to meet Richaun?
How did the “ clinic” go?

The clinic was great! I'm not sure who the gentleman was who lead the group, but they had about 30 kids (Dexter was by several inches the smallest, and I"m betting youngest by years). They did a great job running ball handling drills for probably 30-40 minutes. Then they did some rebounding and got to attempt some shots. Then they did a full court buzzer beater attempt as well. Dexter had a great time with the ball handling drills, but got real discouraged and upset by shooting...a 4 year old cannot shoot a full size ball on a 10 foot rim and after one attempt he was pretty bummed. Unfortunately while he was sulking about his inability to shoot on that rim he missed the initial handshake line when Richaun was introduced. But he was back out there as Richaun talked with all the kids, got to shake his hand after that, and even got an autographed Richaun poster (as did all the kids, I believe).

Really was a pretty great event for the kids, especially since it was free.

I believe it was Coach Fralick's husband who ran the event. He was an assistant under Robin at her previous place.

[Globetrotter]

Hambb,
Did your son get to meet Richaun?
How did the “ clinic” go?

The clinic was great! I'm not sure who the gentleman was who lead the group, but they had about 30 kids (Dexter was by several inches the smallest, and I"m betting youngest by years). They did a great job running ball handling drills for probably 30-40 minutes. Then they did some rebounding and got to attempt some shots. Then they did a full court buzzer beater attempt as well. Dexter had a great time with the ball handling drills, but got real discouraged and upset by shooting...a 4 year old cannot shoot a full size ball on a 10 foot rim and after one attempt he was pretty bummed. Unfortunately while he was sulking about his inability to shoot on that rim he missed the initial handshake line when Richaun was introduced. But he was back out there as Richaun talked with all the kids, got to shake his hand after that, and even got an autographed Richaun poster (as did all the kids, I believe).

Really was a pretty great event for the kids, especially since it was free.

I believe it was Coach Fralick's husband who ran the event. He was an assistant under Robin at her previous place.

I thought he was on her staff here.