Heading into its home opener tonight against IUPUI at 7, the Ball State men's basketball team is treading some rough water.
Coming off of a 71-45 pummeling at Butler on Saturday, Ball State lost senior Theron Smith to medical redshirt and reoccurring tendinitis in his right knee last week. Against Butler, Ball State may have had another player taken from them as senior Rob Robbins went down with what appeared to be a severe knee injury.
Robbins had an MRI Monday afternoon and does not yet know the severity of his injury. The team orthopedic physician, Dr. Jay Matchett, will examine the results and Robbins and the team may know as early as Tuesday the extent of his injury.
With two players sitting out with bum knees, Ball State has found itself scraping for an answer, and quick.
But, according to head coach Tim Buckley, the answers may not come so rapidly.
"I don't think people fully realize what happens to your basketball team when you loose a very good player -- top 50 in America," Buckley said. "It affects everybody and I'm sure it affects our players a little bit. Some of them have played with (Smith) for three years and now he's not there anymore.
Not only are the Cards down two players, they experienced some shooting woes on Saturday against Butler as well. Ball State finished the contest shooting only 31 percent from the field. The usual hot-handed Cardinal shooters were among the coldest when it came to sinking shots.
Chris Williams, the Mid-American Conference West Player of the Week, made three of his 15 attempted shots while Robert Owens made only one of his eight shots.
"We shot 30 percent against Butler -- that's horrible," Williams said. "We just need to get back in the gym and get some shots off. A lot of guys had open shots and guys just weren't knocking them down."
Williams, along with some other players, got in some extra practice time Monday at 7 a.m. Williams also showed up to practice about an hour early to get in some extra shots.
"We are pretty good shooters," Williams said. "We just need better spacing. A lot of guys get caught up with me going one on one then they just stand around. That's something I have to change."
In searching for some answers, Ball State has turned to freshmen Kevin Cates and Tom Howland to pick up some of the slack under the basket.
Howland played 16 minutes against Butler while Cates started the game and played 26 minutes. Cates, expected to start against IUPUI tonight, finished with six rebounds.
"I think they have done a terrific job," Buckley said. "They are freshmen playing a high level of Division I basketball. Unfortunately, they are pressed into a little more duty than maybe they need to be right now."
Heading into tonight's game against IUPUI, Ball State will have more to worry about than itself. Buckley said Monday that the Jaguars will be a tough team to face in the Cardinal's home-opener.
"I think they are very good," Buckley said. "They are one of those teams that plays hard every possession and they do a good job getting ready for the opponent. We look for them to be at their best."
One player specifically that may cause some problems for Ball State is Josh Murray, a former Ball State player who transferred to IUPUI. In the 1999-2000 season Murray played all 31 games and started 22 times for Ball State. At that time he ranked third in the MAC in offensive rebounding.
"I know Josh wanted to go their to shoot threes and play on the perimeter and maybe that's what he'll be doing now," Buckley said. "We wish Josh well. That's what he wanted to do. I hope he's happy. Hopefully he won't do that well in here (tonight)."
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