With two consecutive road wins in tow, Ball State makes another trip for Saturday's game, this time to Bowling Green, Ohio.
Both teams enter with an 8-7 Mid-American Conference record fighting with Buffalo for the fifth seed in the MAC Tournament, and both are coming off close wins. On Tuesday, Ball State (11-13 overall) nipped Marshall 79-78 on the road, while the Falcons (13-13) outlasted archrival Toledo to win 79-66 at home the next day. The Cardinals took care of Bowling Green 76-63 on Jan. 7 in Muncie, but the Falcons have been hot of late, winning four of their last five.
Ball State coach Tim Buckley said that Bowling Green is playing with more purpose since the teams' last meeting and looks more like the team that was selected by some as the preseason MAC West favorite.
"We know Bowling Green will come in with a strong mindset," Buckley said. "They're playing good basketball."
Sophomore guard Ron Lewis, who averaged nearly 24 points per game against the Cards last season, is putting up 17.5 this season, while forward John Reimold and center Kevin Netter add 15.3 and 12.7, respectively.
In addition to the Falcons' upstanding play of late, another factor working against the Cards is their poor record (9-21) at Anderson Arena.
However, Buckley's team has found a winning way in its past two road trips. At Northern Illinois, it was their high-fives, chest-bumps and general positive energy in pregame warmups. When traveling to Marshall the Cards ditched their regular sweats in favor of a more serious look.
"We always want to look at it as a business trip," Buckley said. "We wore business clothing to create the mindset."
Other than saying several of the players looked pretty sharp, the fourth-year coach was coy as to whether he would employ the tactic again. Regardless, he said the team's mindset was where it needed to be at Marshall.
"It was a hard-fought game," he said. "The biggest key was that guys made plays when we had to. It was a must to play winning basketball."
"Tuesday was tough, because Marshall's one of the toughest places to play," forward Cameron Echols added. "We had to bounce back, and now we have to win the last three games."
In the last two games, Echols has scored 12 and 14 points in the first half. Although he has added just two each after halftime, Buckley feels the senior has stepped up his play of late.
"Usually the guy in the other locker room is going to be smart (during halftime)," Buckley said. "But other guys emerged (at Marshall)."
Dennis Trammell scored 14 and Matt McCollom, 12, after halftime against the Thundering Herd. Echols, meanwhile, is just trying to provide stable leadership.
"I basically think that, as a senior, it's the last time on court for me," he said. "The young guys like Peyton (Stovall) and Skip (Mills) need someone to look up to."
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