Only one game into the season, off-the-court distractions have already caused problems for the Ball State University men's basketball team.
The regular season opener against Division II Oakland City was supposed to be an easy beginning to the season for Ball State. The Cardinals, however, couldn't stop Oakland City's torrid shooting, and Ball State narrowly escaped the upset with a 78-72 win.
Coach Tim Buckley blamed the team's lackluster effort on recent distractions that even resulted in freshman Anthony Newell's suspension for the game.
"There have been too many distractions that surprise me with this basketball team up until this point, and that's going to change, and I know it will because [the players] want it to change," Buckley said. "I've got players this year that if they want to win, they'll go win, and if they choose not to win then they won't win. Tonight they weren't sure what they wanted to do."
Buckley called the distractions "private basketball issues" and said they have made it hard for the team to focus on just playing basketball. Junior Skip Mills said the team must re-focus its attention on what the coaches are saying in practice and in games.
"I think everybody is going to start listening more to what the coaches have to say," said Mills, who compiled his first career double-double with 19 points and 13 rebounds.
Ball State had to rely on its offensive rebounding to take charge of the game late in the second half. Oakland City's John Lane, who finished with 26 points, sunk a 3-pointer with 4:33 left in the game, giving the Mighty Oaks their first lead, 65-63.
Ball State then crashed the boards by picking up two offensive rebounds that led to free throws for Mills and junior Peyton Stovall that put the Cardinals up 70-65. Stovall's 3-pointer with 1:54 remaining secured the win giving Ball State a 73-65 advantage.
The Cardinals allowed Oakland City to shoot 47.8 percent from the field and more than 44 percent from behind the arc. Oakland City ran screens to get open shots around the perimeter and the strategy was especially successful in the second half when the Mighty Oaks shot 6-of-10 from 3-point range.
"A lot times we had problems getting through their screens," Mills said. "If we would have shut that down, I think we would have shut them down totally."
Buckley saw problems with his team's decision-making on the court as well. He said he didn't see enough talking, tough playing or sharing of the ball in the game.
"Our team hasn't gotten it through their head yet that you don't get going on the offensive end by taking bad shots," Buckley said. "Things we've emphasized I didn't see at all tonight until maybe the last two minutes of the game. I don't think we came in with the mindset tonight that you have to have with respect of the game, respect of your opponent and that you've got to go out and play every time you're out on the floor."
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