After taking Mid-American Conference title contender Miami into double-overtime on Sunday, Ball State University travels to Central Michigan today to play the team with the worst record in the conference.
Two weeks ago, the Cardinals were in a similar situation. Coming off a near-upset against MAC West leader Northern Illinois, Ball State returned home to play Eastern Michigan who had only one conference win. The Cards came out flat on their homecourt and suffered a devastating loss.
Coach Tim Buckley said Ball State (8-13 overall, 4-9 MAC West) will have to start today's game with the same amount of energy and grit it displayed while pushing Miami to the edge. He also said the Cards can't focus on Central Michigan's 1-12 MAC record.
"You've got to have the same mentality for every game if you have respect for the game," Buckley said.
The Chippewas have lost six straight since their 68-41 loss to Ball State on Jan. 24, and have lost by a combined 36 points in their last three games. Freshman Jalon Perryman said the team is trying to adopt a different attitude when playing against an opponent with a worse record than Ball State.
"We can't underestimate anyone and we're going up [to Central Michigan] and expecting a battle," Perryman said. "It's a matter of coming out ready to play no matter who the opponent is and just get the job done."
With only five conference games left this season, Ball State can't afford to take any game for granted. The team sits four games out of first place in the West Division and if the MAC Tournament started today, the team would travel to Buffalo for its first postseason match-up.
In order to grab some wins along the final stretch of schedule, Perryman said the team needs to focus on starting games with some intensity and focus.
"We need to start attacking early and as often as possible," Perryman said. "It comes down to us taking the ball to the opponent first instead of letting them do it to us at the beginning of games."
Perryman, who has averaged 7.2 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.8 steals per games in the last five outings, has impressed Buckley with the improvement in his passing around the perimeter. Perryman's passing has been a work in progress for the guard all season and he said he is finally understanding the process better.
"I've really been trying to improve on that and that's been frustrating me a lot lately too," Perryman said. "I had been playing out of control in a lot of earlier games and it's starting to become a little easier for me."
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