Thursday's showdown between Ball State and Miami at the Gund Arena in Cleveland could be considered the ultimate rubber match in this season's series.
On Jan. 17, the Cardinals came back from Oxford, Ohio, with a 56-50 victory, their first in Millett Hall in 12 years. Thirty days later, the RedHawks returned the favor, 62-55 in Worthen Arena. Now the two long-time rivals will meet in a neutral setting -- the Mid-American Conference Quarterfinals at 2 p.m.
Sixth-seeded BSU (14-14) gutted out a 76-72 victory over Akron on Monday in the first round, while the No. 3 RedHawks (17-10) received a bye.
"Last night was a great win," junior forward Terrance Chapman said Tuesday, "but it's time to move on and try to do the same thing in Cleveland."
In Cleveland, the Cards must try to clamp down on Miami swingman Juby Johnson, whom is fourth in the MAC in scoring at 17.2 points per game. He has been on a tear of late, racking up 31 and 30 points in Miami's past two games.
Ball State coach Tim Buckley indicated he might use a few players in order to contain the multi-talented senior, who scored 16 points in each of the two BSU-Miami games this season.
"He's a really good player," Buckley said. "I think we have to rotate guys, and we'll need good help on defense. He's a very difficult matchup."
Johnson's chief backing on offense comes from point guard Chet Mason (10.1 points, three assists per game) and forward Danny Horace (10 points). Mason is also the league's fourth-leading rebounder, grabbing 7.7 per game.
While Miami has a stellar defense (MAC-low of 61.4 points allowed), the RedHawks also play a deliberate, work-the-shot-clock offense that scores the least in the conference (62.8 per game). Buckley said that while his team likes to run when it can, and Miami has the ability to run, the RedHawks and wily veteran coach Charlie Coles love to force a slower pace.
"It's a possession game against them," he said. "You can't make them play faster, because they'll walk the ball up the court, run their offense and shoot in the last 10 seconds of the shot clock."
Ball State will need to counter with an equally strong defense, good ball-handling and better shooting. In the loss to Miami at home, the Cards shot just 27.6 percent in the second half and committed 17 turnovers.
"At Miami, we played great defense, and we hit a lot of big shots," Chapman said. "Here we played OK defense, but we didn't make shots."
"We really turned the ball over in key situations," Buckley added. "We went on a stretch where we shot 0 of 16. But at the time I think we lacked some confidence offensively, and obviously we've rectified that."
Indeed they have. The Cards have averaged 80 points in their past five games, four of which were wins. Dennis Trammell (13.2 points per game), Robert Owens (11.3) and Cameron Echols (11.1) all average double figures, with Matt McCollom (9.4) not far behind.
Echols leads the way with 6.1 rebounds, while Peyton Stovall averages 3.9 assists.
"We'll probably be the only team (at the quarterfinals) with a winning record who doesn't have a player on All-MAC," Buckley said, "and I think that says something about our team.
"It's nice to have that opportunity (to play in Cleveland). It's another step for our program."
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