Taking advantage of both a dominant freshman debut and its opponents' first-half defensive woes, the Ball State University men's basketball team opened up the season with a 72-59 victory against Eastern Illinois University on Saturday afternoon in Worthen Arena.
Despite freshman guard Randy Davis and sophomore forward Malik Perry being inactive due to injury, coach Billy Taylor said he was pleased with an overall team win.
"Having a couple guys down with injuries, it was important for us to have more guys step up for us and play well," Taylor said. "To be able to go to the bench and have a lot of different people step up and contribute for us was really helpful and exciting that once we do get Randy and Malik back, it makes our team stronger and gives us some quality depth."
Although Taylor highlighted the play of his bench, it didn't take long for his starters - mainly freshman center Jarrod Jones and senior forward Anthony Newell - to get the ball rolling in the first half.
The Cardinals won the opening tip and Newell missed a layup on the team's first shot of the season, but in a continuing theme throughout the game, Jones was right there with the putback to earn both the first points and the first rebound of his career.
Jones finished the game with a game-high 21 points and 13 rebounds for his first career double-double.
"From the beginning, they told us to stay focused and bring intensity. I just tried to play hard and go to the glass," Jones said. "Coach emphasizes on defense and rebounds, so that's what I tried to do."
Taylor said Jones executed exactly how he was expected to.
"Jarrod was terrific - I loved his impact not only on the glass defensively, but he blocked shots, got steals, he was very active for us defensively," Taylor said. "He did a lot of the little things that really contributed to a very great opening game for him."
Ball State (1-0) opened the game on an 8-0 run as the Panthers' man-to-man defense was mostly unable to handle the Cardinals' inside-out attack throughout the half.
The Cardinals shot six-for-11 on 3-point attempts in the first half, while also earning 12 second-chance points to the Panthers' four.
Newell led all players with 13 points in the first half, despite playing 10 minutes after collecting his second foul halfway through the period. Ball State led 43-26 going into halftime.
Eastern Illinois coach Mike Miller said his team had the "perfect storm" going against them in the first half.
"We didn't guard the ball and they got by us, we didn't rebound the ball and they got second shots and made plays, and thirdly, we didn't take care of the ball," Miller said. "So, the three things that we can't do, we did all three."
The Panthers adjusted in the second half with a zone defensive scheme with which Ball State initially struggled.
Eastern Illinois cut the Ball State lead to as little as six points with three minutes remaining in the game, but Newell and Jones again were the catalysts to put the game out of reach for the Cardinals.
Newell, who finished with 19 points and six rebounds, caught a pass from Jones with 2:44 remaining and slashed to the basket to make a layup as he was fouled by the Panthers' T.J. Marion. The ensuing free throw and another putback from Jones made the score 65-54, and Ball State would hang on for the double-digit opening day victory.
"The second half we got a little bit stagnant - we didn't get as many transition opportunities as we got in the first half," Taylor said. "We have to continue to be able to build upon that. If the team plays zone, continue to attack that inside, and look for our kick-outs to our open shooters."
Seven of eight Cardinals who played scored in the game, while all eight collected at least two rebounds.
For Eastern Illinois (0-1), four players broke double-digits in scoring led by junior guard Romain Martin with a team-high 17 points.
The Cardinals return to action on Wednesday as they travel to in-state rival Butler University. Taylor said he will continue to be "cautiously optimistic" about his team's first performance of the season.
"Tonight, we saw growth in our program," Taylor said. "Hopefully, we'll continue to see growth as this year goes on."
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