Four games in, the Ball State men’s basketball team is still looking for its first conference win, this time against Buffalo.
The Bulls are a team well-known for stretching out defenses and shooting the ball without much hesitation, things Ball State struggled with in its previous loss to Miami.
“We got done with the Miami game and watched the game as a team on Sunday,” head coach James Whitford said. “I thought we learned a lot of lessons from it.”
Ball State played one of its worst games against the RedHawks Saturday, committing 22 turnovers. The Cardinals were down by 26 points at one point, butreduced the lead to 64-52 before the final horn sounded.
“The turnovers become psychologically really frustrating for us.” Whitford said. “We gotta get better at taking care of the ball. We have to handle pressure better. We have to pass and catch better. We have to make sure that every single game we’re making taking care of the ball a huge priority.”
Zavier Turner paced the Cardinals with a career-high 24 points in a game where his team looked doomed from the start. All-MAC center Majok Majok finished with 8 points and 10 rebounds, only taking four shots. Chris Bond scored 14.
The freshmen have been the focal point for the Cardinals identity. Mark Alstork, Franko House and Zavier Turner are regulars in Whitford’s rotation. These three have combined for 1,139 game-time minutes out of a possible 3,000. Quinten Payne is notable because he has been battling a foot injury for a few games.
“Franko, Mark and Zavier, in my eyes, are no longer freshmen.” Whitford said. “Those guys have had an incredible amount of game experience—I believe they can start defending like upperclassmen because they have so much game experience.
Buffalo isn’t a team that Ball State or its freshmen can take lightly. Its leading scorer is 6-foot-7 forward Javon McCrea, who plays well in the post. McCrea averages an efficient 16.6 points per game on a 55 percent field goal average.
Aside from McCrea, Joshua Freelove and Will Regan are shooting the ball from three-point distance at a strong rate of 41 and 42 percent respectively. Regan is a 6-foot-8 forward who can score inside and outside, averaging 10.6 points per game.
“(Bobby Hurley’s) team plays really hard; you know they really do.” Whitford said. “The best thing they do is defend, I love the way they do it; they play hard, they compete, both pressure and protect the rim.”
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