The return of Skip Mills and Chris Ames to Ball State University's men's basketball team's lineup Friday and Saturday couldn't spark the misfiring Cardinals to a victory. Even with the two seniors returning to the lineup, the Cardinals fell to Kansas University and Western Kentucky University on back-to-back nights as they dropped three games in five days over Thanksgiving Break.
Following a 70-55 loss to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga on Tuesday where the Cardinals (2-3) missed a school and Worthen Arena record 27 three-pointers, Ball State traveled to Las Vegas to face Kansas and Western Kentucky.
Mills and Ames practiced with the team for the first time since before the Prairie View A&M game after arriving in Vegas, and coach Ronny Thompson decided to start them based on their performance in that practice. Ames is wearing a protective face mask to prevent further injury to his jaw.
Mills added 13 points and shot five-of-10 from the field in 20 minutes against Kansas while Ames didn't take a shot, and fouled out after only 10 minutes of play. Mills led the team in scoring against Western Kentucky with 17 points.
Mills scored his 1,000th career point and became the 23rd player in school history to reach the mark.
"I think it took a while to get into the flow of the game, but it felt good," Mills said about his return. "It's all about heart and I wanted to get back out there."
Despite the return of the two seniors to the floor, the Cardinals failed to finish either game within 10 points of their opponents, falling to Kansas 64-46 and Western Kentucky 76-66.
The Cardinals' shooting didn't improve much from Tuesday to Saturday. Over the break Ball State hit five of 58 three pointers and didn't shoot better than 41.5 percent from the field.
"The shots are going to start falling for us," Thompson said, following the loss to Kansas. "We played hard and we kept fighting and that's what it is all about."
The Cardinals are off to their worst start since 2000-01, which was Tim Buckley's first year as head coach. The Cardinals will take on Georgetown today in Washington D.C. The No. 14 ranked Hoyas (3-1) are coming off a 73-60 win over Fairfield University.
The game will be a homecoming for Ronny Thompson. Not only did Thompson play and coach at Georgetown, but his father, John Thompson, is a legend at the school and the team is coached by his brother, John Thompson III.
"Dad didn't want us to play [each other]," Ronny Thompson said. "Obviously we don't always listen to him."
The Thompson brothers are a rarity at the college level; only 11 sets of brothers have gone on to become head coaches at the collegiate level. The only other pair of brother coaches currently in the game are Joe Jones at Columbia University and James Jones at Yale University.
"It will be a very emotional game, but right now I'm focused on BSU Basketball," Ronny Thompson said. "And getting this team to play the best that they can."
Ronny Thompson played basketball at Georgetown, while John Thompson III went to Princeton University.
"I went to Georgetown cause my dad was worried I wouldn't graduate - that's the god honest truth," Ronny Thompson said. "My mom and dad thought I was the one that they'd have to keep their thumb on. John was a far better player than I was."
Ronny Thompson says that the system Ball State is using will be familiar to the Hoya-faithful.
"That's what I know most and what I know best," Ronny Thompson said. "The full court, the pressure-¡ - that's what I learned as a player, that's what I taught as a coach here [at Georgetown]."
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