Success often comes with expectations, and it’s a combination Ball State hasn’t proved it can handle throughout the past couple of seasons.
A 4-1 start to Mid-American Conference play in 2011-12 was quickly forgotten after the Cardinals lost their next nine league games and all but eliminated themselves from a chance to win the MAC Tournament.
Those struggles are looking all-too familiar this season, with Ball State in the midst of a three-game losing streak after surprising many with a conference-opening win at Eastern Michigan.
“You just have to help the young guys out because they haven’t been there before,” junior forward Matt Kamieniecki said. “You’ve got to rely on the veterans to get through a three-game losing streak here. We just have to bounce back and play with a little more effort than we did on Saturday.”
Kamieniecki said Saturday’s loss at Central Michigan was demoralizing after playing so well in previous games against MAC East Division perennial powers Kent State and Akron.
One of the Cardinals’ biggest problems against the Chippewas was defending ball screens, a system coach Billy Taylor said the team’s next opponent bases its entire offense around.
When Ball State (7-9, 1-3 MAC) plays Buffalo (6-12, 1-3 MAC) today, Taylor said his team will experience a steady diet of ball screen roll-and-replace action, spearheaded by Buffalo junior forward Javon McCrea.
“What makes them so effective is all the pieces to the puzzle,” Taylor said. “McCrea is such a huge factor because he can roll to the basket and get post-up opportunities. He catches the ball in the high post and can drive against post defenders. He’s knocking down the mid-range shot this year, which is an improvement in his game.
“He’s a really tough matchup with the way they space the floor with shooters.”
The reigning MAC East Division Player of the Week, McCrea leads his team in both scoring (17.1 ppg) and rebounding (7.4 rpg).
While Central Michigan shredded Ball State on ball screens, they were of a different variety.
Most of the Chippewas’ big men picked-and-popped, as opposed to the Bulls’ McCrea and sophomore Will Regan, who Kamieniecki said rolled hard to the basket.
“With Central a lot of their posts played on the perimeter as shooters, where Buffalo’s posts tend to stay more inside,” Kamieniecki said. “That’s how it was with Akron and Kent State. The other day [Saturday] there were just too many straight-line drives and they were getting into the paint too easily. We just have to do a better job communicating and playing as a team on ball screens.”
For much of the season, Ball State has been solid against ball screens. The Chippewas were able to force switches and get frontcourt players like Kamieniecki defending guards on the perimeter.
Taylor said despite these and other lingering problems like turnovers are minute corrections that prevented several key wins over the past couple games.
“I thought we had some great opportunities to capitalize against some tough opponents, so we are disappointed to finish this segment 1-3,” Taylor said. “But from what I’ve seen from our guys, they’ve shown a lot of resiliency so far this year. I feel like they still really believe in themselves and what we’re doing.
“Hopefully now with a home game [today,] getting our feet back underneath us a little bit, we’ll be able to play some consistent basketball.”
