After two losses by two points each on the road last week, Ball State University is likely as ready as any team in the nation to return to its home court.
"You always feel more comfortable at home," Cardinals' coach Billy Taylor said. "Everything is more natural to you. It's important for us to go out and defend our home court and get back on a winning track."
The Cardinals will be met tonight by a Bowling Green State University team that is coming off a successful home-court defense of its own.
The Falcons won two Mid-American Conference games at home last week but have lost their two league road games so far.
Taylor said he thinks the Falcons, who enter the game with a 4-2 league record, are underrated by many observers.
"They're definitely under the radar," Taylor said. "I think they're a better team than they're given credit for."
Bowling Green, like Ball State, has a first-year coach. The Falcons are led by Louis Orr, who was previously the Seton Hall University head coach, taking the Pirates to two NCAA tournaments in his five seasons at the helm.
He holds a 9-9 record this year at Bowling Green, including a victory against Big East member University of Cincinnati.
"Louis's done a good job," Taylor said. "Their kids are playing with a sense of purpose and hunger."
Ball State enters tonight's game looking to bounce back from its last-second defeat at Ohio University, in which the Cardinals were outrebounded by 12 and were unable to hold a 12-point halftime advantage.
"Rebounding's always going to be a big challenge for us because we're not growing any taller," Taylor said.
"At Ohio, we had a lot of opportunities where we couldn't come up with the ball. We have to continue to focus on the fundamentals."
The Cardinals are likely to be led by junior forward Anthony Newell, who scored 24 points in both road games last week and leads the MAC in scoring as well as ranking sixth in rebounds.
"He's been playing really well for us," Taylor said. "The thing I like is, he's making plays for other people too, which kind of gets lost in the unfolding of the game."
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