Eastern Michigan Athletics
Men's Hoops Travels to BGSU
2/6/2006 2:26:35 PM | Men's Basketball
Game time is set for 7 p.m at venerable Anderson Arena.
Complete Game Notes (PDF).
Listen to the game via WEMU Radio
Gametracker Live Statistics.
EMU MAKES IT TWO STRAIGHT: Heading into last week’s action the Eagles were searching for their first Mid-American Conference win of the season and their first MAC-road win. Head Coach Charles E. Ramsey’s crew snapped both of those streaks with a pair of MAC West-Division victories. The Eagles started the week by beating Central Michigan, 81-75, in a home game Wednesday (Feb. 1) and the Green and White capped the week with a 56-43 victory at Ball State Saturday (Feb. 4). EMU will now seek to make it three straight wins with a Tuesday (Feb. 7) MAC cross-divisional game at Bowling Green. Game time is 7 p.m. After Tuesday’s game the Eagles will be idle until Saturday (Feb. 11) when they host Akron in a 7:30 p.m. game in the Convocation Center.
THE SERIES: This is the 78th meeting between Bowling Green and Eastern Michigan, and BGSU holds a 42-35 advantage. BGSU recorded a 79-72 win earlier this season, Jan. 18, in Ypsilanti.
BREAKING THROUGH: EMU snapped its 0-9 Mid-American Conference losing streak with an 81-75 win over a visiting Central Michigan team Wednesday (Feb. 1).The last time EMU started 0-9 was the 2000-01 season when the Eagles were 0-10.
LONG TIME COMING: The Eagles were involved in a lot of streak breaking with two consecutive MAC wins last week. Wednesday (Feb. 1) the Eagles snapped a nine-game MAC losing streak this season with an 81-75 win over a visiting Central Michigan team. Saturday (Feb. 4) the Eagles broke a 12-game MAC-road losing streak (17 games overall), dating back to an 86-82 win at Central Michigan, Jan. 9, 2005, with a 56-43 victory at Ball State. The 43 points by Ball State is the lowest MAC-point total allowed by the Eagles since the 1999-2000 squad won a 68-43 decision at Western Michigan, Feb. 2, 2000, a total of 114 games between 43’s.
BOWLER EARNS THIRD MAC WEEKLY AWARD OF SEASON: Senior forward John Bowler (Chicago, Ill.-Notre Dame H.S.) has earned his third Mid-American Conference West Division Player of the Week Award, and the fifth of his career with a pair of strong showings in games played last week (Jan.30-Feb. 4). The 6-foot-9 Bowler turned in two double-doubles to help lead the Eagles to back-to-back wins in MAC West Division games. He scored 24 points with 11 rebounds in an 81-75 win over Central Michigan Wednesday, Feb. 1, and scored 14 points with 12 rebounds in a 56-43 win at Ball State Saturday, Feb. 4. For the two games, Bowler made 9-of-17 field goals (.529), 20-of-23 free throws (.869), hauled down 23 rebounds and scored 38 points. He also added four assists. Bowler earned his first 2005-06 Player of the Week award Nov. 21, and his second, Jan. 16. Last season Bowler earned the MAC’s weekly honor, Nov. 22, 2004, and his first award came in the 2003-04 season when he was singled out, Dec. 28, 2003.
STRONG AT THE LINE: The Eagles have made the most out of their free-throw shooting over the last two games, shooting 85.3 percent (29-of-34) in the CMU win (Feb. 1) and 82.8 percent (24-of-29) in the victory at Ball State (Feb. 4). Eastern has been over 80 percent just one other time this season, in the opening win over California when it shot 85.7 percent (6-of-7).
AT THE HALF: EMU has held the halftime lead in eight of 19 games this season, with just three of those resulting in wins. Eastern led at the half and won the games against California (Nov. 18) game, CMU (Feb. 1) and Ball State (Feb. 4). Eastern trailed at the half against both Youngstown State (Dec. 7) and Tulsa (Dec. 22) before coming back to record victories. EMU was tied at the half against UWGB (Dec. 14) before dropping the tilt.
BOWLER-McELHINNY CAPTAINS: Seniors John Bowler and Danny McElhinny (Hermitage, PA-Kennedy Catholic) are the captains for the 2005-06 season. Both players are three-year lettermen in their fourth season of competition.
