If history were to repeat itself, then tonight's matchup between Ball State and Western Michigan at 7 p.m. could hold some surprises.
Western Michigan came to Worthen Arena last year with a record of 1-12 and defeated Ball State, 76-70.
"They were certainly troublesome for us last year," head coach Tim Buckley said. "They came in here and beat us with a very good basketball team in my opinion, regardless of what their record was."
Western Michigan's head coach Robert McCullum said he doesn't expect his team to have the same advantages as last season.
"Last year we sort of surprised them and caught them off guard," McCullum said. "We wont catch them off guard this year."
This season's first meeting of the two teams, however, may prove to be just as challenging as last season. Western Michigan travels to Muncie having just come off of a nearly upsetting performance against Kent State, tied for first in the MAC East.
The Broncos fell just short against Kent State, 75-72. Ball State also lost to Kent State on Jan. 2 by a score of 81-54.
Leading Western Michigan is senior Steve Reynolds, named MAC West Player of the Week along with Ball State's Petie Jackson. Reynolds had a career- and game-high 35 points. That came after Reynolds tallied 32 points against IUPUI the game before.
"He is a guy who can score the ball," Buckley said. "He is a tough matchup for everybody in our league. He has other guys he can play with this year, maybe even more so than last year."
According to McCullum, Reynolds has always been an effective weapon for the Broncos; it has just shown more lately now that Reynolds seems to have snapped a shooting slump.
"He has been very important to us," McCullum said. "When he is shooting the ball well it also opens looks for other players."
In order to be successful against Ball State, McCullum said he "needs Steve to score 20 points" and explained that Reynolds is capable of complete such a task.
Even with the help of Reynolds, McCullum is expecting to have his hands full against the MAC West leading Cardinals.
"We are expecting a huge challenge," McCullum said. "They are very good at offensive transition. They want to push the ball up and down the court."
Western Michigan may have Reynolds, but Ball State will utilize its biggest weapon against the Broncos: Theron Smith.
"Theron is arguably the best player in the league," McCullum said.
"I don't know how one guy can stop him; we just hope to contain him and do it by committee," McCullum said.
"(Ball State's) offense starts with Theron Smith."
Smith continues to dominate opponents, putting up double-double numbers every game since playing Kent State. The junior marked his fifth-straight double-double against Akron Saturday. On top of the double digits, Smith is currently the sixth-best rebounder in the nation.
According to Buckley, even with the help of Smith, Western Michigan will be a team to play against cautiously.
"They give us difficulty because they are well-coached and play very well as a team," Buckley said. "Even though their play at Kent State didn't translate into a win, they obviously played very good basketball over there."
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