The Ball State University men's basketball team travels to the University of Akron tonight looking to snap the Zips' six-game winning streak, including their last four against Mid-American Conference West Division opponents.
Ball State coach Billy Taylor said after being outscored 72-24 in the paint in the last two games against Miami University and Kent State University the emphasis against Akron will begin down low.
"I think that, one, on our part, we have not done a good job defensively," Taylor said. "That's obviously what jumps out to us is we're not doing what we need to do on the defensive end on the floor."
Taylor said a few key areas have plagued Ball State (10-11, 5-4 MAC) in the paint during the past two games. He said allowing points in transition and fast breaks were a problem against Kent State, while offensive rebounds and putbacks for scores were troublesome both against Kent State and Miami.
"Guys are getting deep post position and getting easy opportunities," Taylor said. "So that's the one aspect of it is we have to do a much better job of defending the painted area in those key areas."
Akron's (15-7, 6-3 MAC) three key players this season will most likely seek plenty of opportunities in the paint.
Brothers Brett and Chris McKnight, both forwards, combine to average 24 points and 8.9 rebounds per game in MAC play. Senior forward Nate Linhart is the team's leading rebounder at 5.9 rebounds per game and is second on the team in scoring at 10 points per game.
Taylor compared Brett McKnight - Akron's leading scorer at 12.8 points per game in MAC play - to Chris Singletary of Kent State, who scored 19 points against Ball State on Saturday, and Ohio University's Jerome Tillman, who leads the MAC in scoring and rebounding.
"Brett McKnight is playing really good basketball right now, both he and his brother Chris," Taylor said. "He can shoot 3s, he can drive the ball to the basket, he can make pull-ups, he can post up and finish with either hand - so it's just a very difficult cover because he can score in a variety of ways."
When it comes to Linhart, Taylor said he still remembers last year's 70-61 loss to Akron in which Linhart had 19 points and 10 rebounds.
"He made four out of six 3s against us," Taylor said. "He shoots the 3 in transition, drives hard to his left and can finish really well going to the basket and he's a senior - he's an experienced player that has won a lot of games at Akron and in the MAC, so he's a guy that will take a lot of attention and certainly a lot of focus from us so that we don't let him get any easy open looks."
Taylor said against a team like Akron, who is winning its MAC games by a league-best 10.6 points per game, his team needs to step up and meet the challenges on the road, where the Cardinals are 3-6 overall and 1-3 in MAC play.
"If you look at the way Akron's been playing the last couple weeks against the teams from the [MAC] West, they've been winning by large margins," Taylor said. "I expect it to be a very intense battle."
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