With just a two-day turnaround, the Ball State University men's basketball team hosts North Carolina Central University tonight to begin a three-game homestand at Worthen Arena.
The Cardinals (3-5) are fresh off their 69-49 loss to No. 4 Purdue University in the John R. Wooden Tradition at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Coach Billy Taylor said he was happy with the effort against a possible Final Four team, but the urgency must continue tonight to end his team's two-game losing streak.
"Quick turnaround, right before Christmas, we want to make sure our guys still come out and play with that same urgency that we did (Saturday)," Taylor said. "Conference season is right around the corner for us, we've got three home games in a row, so we really need to be playing at our best. By establishing some type of home-court presence, that will get us some good ammunition heading into MAC season."
The Eagles (2-9), also on a two-game losing streak, have played a challenging schedule thus far into the season. North Carolina Central has played eight of its 11 games on the road, including losses at two Atlantic Coast Conference schools and two Big Ten Conference squads.
The Eagles have lost on the road at No. 10 University of North Carolina (89-42), the University of Miami (83-53), the University of Iowa (73-63) and, most recently, lost on Saturday at Indiana University (81-58).
North Carolina Central is led by guard C.J. Wilkerson. The 6-3 junior is averaging 16 points per game, including Saturday's 20-point performance against Indiana.
Junior guard Vincent Davis is second on the team with a 12.1 points-per-game average, while 6-7 sophomore forward Nick Chasten is getting the job done scoring the ball and on the glass, ranking third on the team in scoring (8.9 points per game) and rebounding (5.4 rebounds).
Tonight's game is set to tip-off at 7 p.m.
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