As Ball State University's men's basketball team looks to win three straight games for the first time in nearly two years, the Cardinals will play one of the best teams historically in the Mid-American Conference. Over the last eight years, Kent State University has won at least 20 games and had a postseason appearance.
"Kent has been winning, and I would like to win. They set the bar very high," coach Ronny Thompson said. "We're clearly aware of who Kent State is and what they've done."
The Cardinals (6-12, 2-3 in the MAC) dropped six straight games before winning their past two in decisive fashion. After a long non-conference schedule that saw Ball State match up against Kansas University, Georgetown University, Butler University, Oklahoma State University and Indiana University, the Cardinals are not finding the conference schedule any easier.
"We played a couple of top 25 teams," junior Micah Rollin said. "It was really rough on us at first, but I thought it taught us a lot. The MAC isn't easy either, as you can see. We are 2 and 3 right now. So, definitely you've got to pick it up and play hard."
The Flashes (10-8, 3-2 MAC) are led by senior guards Omni Smith and Armon Gates. Gates averages 10.4 points per game while Smith is eighth in the MAC with 14.6 points per game. Smith scored 24 points against the Cardinals last season in the Flashes 84-71 win, a mark he has surpassed twice this season, against Duke University and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
"I think they have a lot of guards who do a lot of things. I think we have to pay a lot of attention to Omni because of his ability to score," Thompson said. "I think our defensive focus and our defensive concentration have to be there."
The Flashes also have nine players who average more than 10 minutes per game. Thompson said this leads to a balanced scoring attack in which the Cardinals have to pay attention to everyone.
"They have tremendous depth, they are probably the deepest team we've played all year," he said. "They'll play 10 guys and 10 guys who are very, very effective in terms of what they're doing. This team that we play tomorrow is a very deep team. They're low and wiry and they're competitive."
One area in which Ball State may have an advantage is height, where the Cardinals' Rollin stands at 6-foot-10. The tallest contributor for Kent State is 6-foot-7.
"We think we have a solid advantage inside," Thompson said. "But they're scrappy and they're going to do something to offset that and take Micah out of his rhythm."
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