Despite a powerful offensive performance, Ball State coach Tim Buckley rated his team's first performance dismal. In fact, he gave it a four on a 10 scale as the Cards defeated Team Nike Wednesday night, 112-105. The game marked the first of two exhibition games for Ball State.
Not only did Buckley rate his squad's defensive effort a four, he called it "unacceptable."
"I never look at the points," Buckley said. "I don't think that determines your defensive effort.
"What we look at is field goal percentage. Our defense was porous and I'm not very happy with that at all and that is going to change."
Ball State allowed Team Nike to shoot 62 percent from behind the three-point arc in the first half alone. Team Nike finished the contest shooting 51 percent from the field and 47 percent with the three-ball.
After the game, juniors Cameron Echols and Robert Owens mirrored each other's comments by saying they know Thursday's practice will be a tough one.
Through the doleful defensive effort, it was Ball State's offensive onslaught that shinned Wednesday night. Four Cardinal players scored in double figures, headed by Chris Williams with 30 points.
Williams shot eight of 14 from the field and five of nine from behind the three-point arc.
"Offensively he can just go score the ball," Buckley said. "He's a guy that could be on his last breath and he would rise up and knock down a three. He is just mentally tough that way."
Robert Owens, who also scored in double figures, called Williams performance "usual."
"He was calm, cool," Owens said. "He's being a leader more. He is more experienced than other players out there also."
Following closely in points for the Cardinals was Echols who tallied 27 points for his Ball State debut.
"He's very active," Buckley said. "He goes and gets us extra shots and he did a very good job of that tonight. He's a good shooter when he get's faced up."
Echols, a transfer from Junior College, was pleased with his first Division IA collegiate performance.
"I think this was very typical for me," Echols said. "Coach and my teammates expect me to come out and play hard every night. This was the reason coach brought me to Ball State, to play hard and be in double figures every night."
Echols' teammates also appreciated his strong first effort.
"He was very aggressive," Owens said of his teammate. "Every time he was around the rim it was like he knew he was going to make a shot. He was on today."
Theron Smith, still recovering from a mid-summer knee surgery, played 29 minutes and nagged a double-double performance.
"You can just plug in the double-double," Buckley said. "He's always going to get that, there is no question about that."
He finished last season second in the nation in double-doubles. Wednesday he scored 14 points and pulled down 10 boards. Even with the double-double, Smith seemed to struggle at times.
"He's a ways away," Buckley said. "There is no question about that. He won't make any excuses, but I will for him. A lot of it had to do with his knee.
"I really admire his effort and his work ethic. He's going to get back there. He just can't get frustrated. He actually played more minutes than we even expected him to."
Even with the 112 point offensive explosion, Buckley remained focused on the defensive woes his team stumbled over Wednesday.
"This is where we are -- when we get a lead, or we get a good shot we relax," Buckley said. "Whether it's individually or collectively, when you relax you cannot be a good defensive team. We will see it on the tape. We have to get away from those lapses.",,2-Ñ*xP"+âN=BP+â-î*!N+â-¼+âcbr+â-ó?/+â-Ö?-»+â... 5+â-ñ+â-à
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