Putting the dismissal of senior Tom Howland behind them, the men's basketball team is looking at the next three games as necessary wins. With only three games remaining in the regular season, Ball State University is still on the hunt to grab a home-court game in the first round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament.
Ball State (9-15 overall, 5-10 MAC West) is currently sitting in the ninth seed, which would mean the Cardinals would travel to Buffalo for the first-round game. The Cardinals have gone 1-6 this season on the road during conference-play and Buckley said it would be a big boost for a young team to start the tournament at home.
"We would obviously prefer to play at home," Buckley said. "If we don't, we have to play the same kind of basketball."
The Cardinals will get their first chance at getting a first-round home court game when they visit Toledo on Sunday. With two of their last three games on the road, junior Skip Mills said the team has to bring its energy from the tip-off to win the road games.
"We just have to keep being ready from the tip and fighting hard," Mills said. "I think we've been battling and doing things for 40 minutes. Now we just got to over the hump."
The team enters the final stretch without Howland, who started in four of the last five games. Howland played only 10 minutes on Wednesday but it opened the door for freshman Pat Nelson to increase his playing time. Nelson played 28 minutes in his only third start of the season and Buckley said he was impressed with Nelson's play.
"I thought Pat Nelson played a very good ballgame against Western Michigan," Buckley said. "He continues to make progress for us."
Buckley said he would count on freshman Landon Adler to help fill the void at the center spot left behind by Howland's departure. Buckley said Adler has enough foot speed to keep up with centers on defense and use it to his advantage.
Junior Charles Bass, who played only two minutes Wednesday, left the game in the second half after falling hard and grabbing his left knee. Although he didn't return to the game, Buckley said he was available to return and that Bass did practice on Thursday. Buckley said Bass would be ready to play on Sunday.
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