Team comparison
Scoring
Ball State: 63.7
Central Michigan: 73.7
Scoring defense
Ball State: 71.8
Central Michigan: 73.5
Field goal percentage
Ball State: .398
Central Michigan: .440
Assists per game
Ball State: 12.4
Central Michigan: 11.9
Steals per game
Ball State: 4.8
Central Michigan: 7.3
After enduring a winless three-game home stand, Ball State embarks north for a road trip to try and reverse its fortunes.
The significance of one win holds power for the 4-19 Cardinals as the team looks to defeat the 8-16 Central Michigan Chippewas. One win against the Chippewas would give the Cardinals its second Mid-American Conference victory this year as well as the first road win..
“We keep talking about banging on that wall; you never know when it’s going to break through,” Ball State head coach James Whitford said. “If you stop banging, it’s never breaking through — no one here is feeling sorry for themselves.”
The metaphorical wall that Whitford is eluding to is the barrier that has separated Ball State from winning this season. The Cardinals are 1-11 in MAC play and 0-11 on the road. Four of the final six regular season games are away from Worthen Arena, which adds the pressure for Ball State to perform well on the road.
Central Michigan pressures more than most MAC teams.
“They press for 40 minutes; they’re very unusual in the way they play,” Whitford said. “Their best three-point shooters are their four and their five-men. Those guys very rarely post up.”
Central Michigan owns the second-highest scoring offense in the conference scoring 73.7 points per game. The Chippewas also give up the second-most points scored, allowing 73.5 points per game.
“They press you on makes, misses, dead balls — it’s the best thing they do by far,” Whitford said. “Their half-court defense isn’t very good statistically speaking.”
The Chippewas own the same record as the Cardinals in the MAC, both sitting at 1-11. Central Michigan relies on its starting sophomore guard, Chris Fowler, as much as Ball State relies on freshman guard Zavier Turner. Fowler leads the Chippewas with 18 points per game.
“They’re difficult to deal with on offense.” Whitford said.
Getting the ball inside the three-point arc is a point of emphasis to the first-year head coach.
“Their interior defense is not strong, we have to take advantage of that,” Whitford said. “They’re not big, and they don’t defend inside particularly well — they try to mask that in a number of different ways but that’s no secret, they know it and we know it.”
Whitford’s assessment of the Chippewas defense sets up the possibility for a big game from Ball State’s only true post presence, senior Majok Majok. The 6-foot-9 center averages 10.7 points per game and 10.1 rebounds per game, which ranks 15th in the nation.
“Us being able to get the ball inside and score inside or at least force [Central Michigan] to double inside is important,” Whitford said.
As well as senior guard Jesse Berry has been playing for the Ball State, Central Michigan focusing inside instead of the perimeter is ill-advised. Berry has recently become the top three-point shooter in Ball State school history, making six shots from deep Saturday against Bowling Green. His record holds at 206 made attempts with a possibility of more to come.
“He just started playing well about two-and-a-half weeks ago, but he was really practicing well much later than that,” Whitford said.
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