Ball State freshman point guard Zavier Turner faced some big challenges this season, but perhaps none bigger than Saturday’s matchup guarding Toledo’s point guard Julius “Juice” Brown, a member of the preseason All-MAC team.
The matchup didn’t disappoint for those watching at Worthen Arena. Ball State held a lead late into the game, but fell to Toledo, 80-73.
However, Turner got the best of Brown on the score sheet. The freshman ended with a team-high 19 points off 4-of-9 from the field. Turner also went 2-of-6 from three-point range and 9-of-10 from the foul line.
“I don’t think we guarded [Turner] very well tonight,” Toledo head coach Tod Kowalczyk said.
Although both ended up in foul trouble throughout the game, they played a combined 23:42 together on the floor.
Brown had 18 points off 6-of-10 from the field. Many of his shots were well defended by Turner, as Brown hit tough pull-up jumpers.
“His understanding of what I’m asking a point guard to do was as good tonight as it has been,“ Ball State head coach James Whitford said. “It’s not easy for a freshman.”
Whitford talked about when he coached Terrell Holloway at Xavier. He said at the beginning of Holloway’s freshman year, he was “as average as average gets.”
“He was a great point guard, but in his freshman year it took him a long time to figure it out.” Whitford said.
Holloway was a third-team All-American in 2011.
“I thought Zavier had the best understanding of the way we wanted to play,” Whitford said. “He was not only able to create shots for himself, but he was able to create them for the rest of the guys on the team.”
Turner had three assists in the game, his highest in four games.
With 4:33 left in the game, Turner drove into the lane at Brown and the Toledo defense. He went up for a shot, took contact and the ball landed out of bounds.
As Turner was helped off the floor, Brown was called for a technical foul for saying taunting words to Turner.
The officials then changed the out of bounds call to a personal foul on Brown, his fifth and final of the game.
Turner came into the game familiar with Brown. They had played together at AAU Circuit.
“Coming into the game, I had a feel for how he played already,“ Turner said. “I just took it as a challenge. I wasn’t backing down.“
Turner said he was concentrated on the matchup ahead of him, but not so much that it took away from the game.
“Once you just think about that for so long … you don’t focus on the game,” Turner said. “I didn’t want it to be a confrontational thing.“
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