As if in a state of complete bewilderment and utter disappointment, senior Chris Williams could do little but hold his head in his hands after Wednesday's game against Western Michigan.
While holding his head and peering down at a stat sheet through his palms, in the middle of being asked a question in the post-game press conference, he got up, said, "excuse me" and walked out.
After a 71-52 loss to the Broncos, Williams said "I can't even do this right now," referring to the press conference.
The night began with a bang for Western Michigan but it was anything but banging for Ball State.
The Broncos scored 14 unanswered points to open the game. By half time, the deficit grew to 23 points with the score at 40-17.
Before leaving the press conference, Williams, who finished with a team-high 14 points, did answer one question saying, "Our defense was horrible in the first half. There is nothing else to say about it. It was horrible."
Western Michigan coach, Robert McCullum explained that the strong start was a point of emphasis heading into Wednesday night's match up with the Cardinals.
"We came into the game feeling like it was extremely important to get off to a good start," McCullum said. "We felt like Ball State was in a situation like we were last week at 0-3. We just felt like we couldn't allow them to get off to a good start."
In the first half alone, Ball State (5-9) hit only six of its 28 shots from the field.
Ball State coach Tim Buckley gave only partial credit to Western's defense for his team's offensive woes.
"I think (Western) plays very good defense," Buckley said. "But at the same time, offensively we didn't execute anything; we were throwing the ball all over the gym; we were running into each other. We had a lot of trouble."
Wednesday's game marked the sixth time that the Broncos have held their opponent to 20 or fewer points at the half.
Before making it's first basket, Ball State attempted eight shots in the first five minutes of play.
"I thought we had some good looks at the basket early that didn't go in," Buckley said. "From that point, I think it just spiraled and we decided we weren't going to defend."
The Cardinals were eventually able to make a second-half run, but it was simply too little, too late.
Despite a 13-3 run midway through the second half, Ball State finished the night shooting 29.6 percent from the field. Western Michigan (10-4) shot 52 percent from the field for the game.
"They got into a rhythm and they shot the ball really well," Buckley said of Western's offensive game.
The brightest spot for the Cardinals Wednesday, came in the way of freshman guard Kyle Cox.
Cox finished with a career-high eight points. The freshman also had a career-high 25 minutes of play - that after playing only four minutes in the last month.
"When coach called my name I knew I had to be ready to play," Cox said. "You never know when he's going to give you the call. I just tried to make the best of it, unfortunately we just came up short.
"I felt pretty comfortable," he said. "Our practices are pretty tough and geared to getting us ready to play."
Despite the loss, Buckley was pleased with his freshman point guard's effort.
"I was really pleased with Kyle's play," Buckley said. "I thought he came to play tonight. He did a good job of running the club, pushing the pace and playing with a lot of energy."
The loss marks Ball State's seventh straight loss, and fourth straight conference loss leaving Ball State and Buffalo as the only teams in the Mid-American Conference without a conference win.
The loss also marks the first time since the '99-'00 season that Ball State has dropped two consecutive home games.
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