Six straight losses.
Winless in the Mid-American Conference.
Five straight losses to rival Miami (OH), including Saturday's 59-55 setback.
Despite the struggles, the Ball State University men's basketball team is seeing the glass half full. The Cardinals are starting to see significant improvements from their newcomers, even in defeat.
"We're just making unbelievable progress with those young guys," coach Tim Buckley said. "Our decision-making is going to get better."
The improvement in the young players is reinforced by freshman point guard Maurice Acker. He scored a career-high 23 points Wednesday against Kent State.
The offensive production continued. Saturday, Acker added 12 points and six rebounds against Miami. However, Acker's improvement has not been just on offense.
"I think his defense is far better than when he first came here," Buckley said. "He's playing at a high level right now."
D'Andre Peyton is another newcomer who has started to catch his stride. Peyton poured in a career-high 17 points against Miami. The junior forward has averaged nine points per game this season, but he has scored in double-figures in four of his last five games.
While the Cards have been fairly competitive in the MAC this season, the lack of experience has put Ball State at a disadvantage. This was evident in their struggle against Miami. The experienced Redhawks hit all 10 of their free throws in the final 4:30 of the game. Ball State, however, missed eight free throws in the second half and made bad shot selections. But Buckley will remain patient with his young team.
"Eventually, you'll be able to get the results you want," Buckley said. "I hope our experiences will allow us to get better in these situations."
"To me we're not 0-4 (in the MAC)," Acker said. "The way we've been playing, we've been improving a lot so that's all we're worried about right now, steady improvement."
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