Hoping to ditch a four-game losing streak, Ball State takes a short break from Mid-American Conference action to compete in ESPN's Bracket Buster on Saturday. The Cardinals will face Drexel in Worthen Arena at 5 p.m., and the game will be broadcast on ESPN Full Court, the network's pay-per-view service.
Ball State fell to 7-7 in the MAC (12-10) overall with a 70-69 defeat at West Division leader Bowling Green. The Dragons, who play in the Colonial Athletic Association sport a record of 13-10.
The Bracket Buster was created two years ago to give mid-major "bubble" teams a chance to build their resume for the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee. The Cardinals have lost at Western Kentucky and to Detroit that last two years in matchups created from the Bracket Buster pool.
In facing Drexel, BSU coach Tim Buckley wants his team to play a whole game with the intensity it showed down the stretch at Bowling Green. The Cards nearly erased a 13-point deficit in the last 10 minutes.
"We just have to get out and play with a sense of urgency for 40 minutes," Buckley said. "(It's hard) finding it when we're not down, when it's 0-0.
"I know we're going to do it, it's just a matter of when. We need our sophomores to be seniors, to play with that urgency."
Senior guard Dennis Trammell, who scored 21 points on 7-of-7 shooting at BG, added: "We have to have the same attitude we do when we came back."
Trammell for one, is looking forward to returning home after two road games. The Cards won their first nine home games before losses to Marshall and Miami last week.
"It always feels good to come home," he said. "They give you a lot of love, which is what we need."
Like Ball State, Drexel has been a perimeter-oriented team for the most part and features four players in double-figure scoring. The Dragons use a three-guard lineup, with the starting forwards both at 6-foot-6.
Senior guard Phil Goss leads the team with 13.9 points per game, with Sean Brooks getting 12.0. Chaz Crawford leads the team in rebounding, pulling down 6.9 per game to go with 67 blocks.
"They're a team that does a good job of driving the basketball," Buckley said. "They've played good basketball and been in some tight ball games.
"We have to be tight in our (defensive) rotations and shrink the floor, because they like to spread it out on offense."
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