Coach Tim Buckley said he felt there was only one way to treat Wednesday's win against IUPUI.
Treat it as a loss.
A day after pulling out a close 53-50 win, the men's basketball team spent Thursday's practice making sure they will stay focused for Saturday's game at Indiana State.
"I told [the players] today, I checked and nobody is going to have a street named after them and they're not going to put any statues up around campus for beating IUPUI," Buckley said. "It's time to move on and they did a terrific job of that today. It was as good a practice that we've had."
Buckley expects the team to learn from its previous mistake this season when Ball State thumped Wright State before coming home and lapsing in a lopsided loss to Butler. The team is still learning to cope with such an inexperienced and young roster, and a starting lineup that only consists of one player from last season's roster.
Freshman Anthony Newell is one of the players who stepped up against IUPUI, playing a season-high 13 minutes and scoring five points. He said the injury to junior Peyton Stovall has forced some players to grow up quickly.
"We have no choice but to be growing up fast at this point and we're always getting better," Newell said. "We've got to be extra focused to get the win on Saturday and keep making the extra pass, rebound, and playing defense that helps our offense."
True freshman Jalon Perryman has worked his way into the starting lineup for the Cardinals. The 6-foot-4-inch guard started in place of junior D'Andre Peyton on Wednesday and is now expected to start again at Indiana State. Buckley said Perryman has worked hard on his defense and it's what has earned him the starting spot.
"Jalon has really taken on the role of being a defensive stopper and that's what we're looking for in all five of our starters," Buckley said. "I think D'Andre has just got to get to the point where he gets that defensive mentality."
The team will enter Indiana State territory after the Sycamores (4-0) upset No. 16 Indiana on Tuesday. Newell said the Cardinals will have to keep their feet planted against the shot-faking Sycamores.
"Coach has really been hawking us about staying on our feet because Indiana State really likes to shot-fake so we need to be aware of that," Newell said. "I think we can attack them and get the ball inside and allow [Charles] Bass to get the ball close to the basket."
YATES SCHOLARSHIP
Junior Darren Yates will keep his team scholarship until the end of the 2005-06 academic school year. The team's former guard was dismissed from the squad Wednesday due to continued conduct detrimental to the team.
After Yates finishes the school year as a student at Ball State, his scholarship will then be regained by the team for next season to offer to another player.
Yates may, however, choose to transfer to another school this year. If he chooses to transfer, the school must cancel his scholarship to allow him to leave.
Yates' scholarship, like everyone else's on the team, is a full ride scholarship. Due to NCAA rules, men's basketball teams may only offer full ride scholarships to its players, unlike other sports that can split up scholarship money among players on the team.
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