INDIANAPOLIS -- During Ball State’s three-game losing streak, the players and coaches said the motion offense was a work in progress — it just needed time.
For 20 minutes of Saturday’s game against Butler, Hinkle Fieldhouse was the stage for progression.
The Cardinals executed pick-and-rolls, got into the paint and created easy shots. Ball and player movement repeatedly broke down the Bulldogs defense and the team went on a 13-4 run to close the first half.
Junior Majok Majok’s tip-in off an out-of-bounds play tied the game at 33 heading into halftime, and the visiting team’s bench erupted.
All the excitement was short lived, however, as Ball State’s (2-4) offense crumbled under Butler’s (5-2) ball pressure, reverting back to old habits in the 67-53 loss.
“We just have to get better as a team just making that extra pass,” coach Billy Taylor said. “I thought we did more of that in the first half. We were able to penetrate the defense, get a kick and get a secondary drive. Against a good defensive team like Butler – they’re going to make adjustments. They really closed the paint down on us.”
Butler closed down the paint, along with everything else. Ball State’s once crisp offense turned into a lot of isolation plays later in the game.
After a brief three-point lead in the second half, the Cardinals scored seven points over the next 13:20 of the game. By that point, the Bulldogs had a comfortable 59-40 lead with less than six minutes to go.
Junior guard Jesse Berry was forced to take many of those one-on-one drives to try and create opportunities late in the shot clock. He finished with a team-high 12 points on 4-of-11 shooting, but committed seven turnovers.
“People are going to really critical of his game because he [Berry] is asked to do a whole lot,” Butler coach Brad Stevens said. “But he’s a really good player. If you have to play against Roosevelt Jones all day, it’s going to be a hard day. Even if you score, it’s going to wear on you.”
Taylor said Butler’s intensity and pressure may have worn down his team a bit as the game went on. The Bulldogs took command inside in the second half, outscoring the Cardinals 24-8 in the paint and grabbing 16 offensive rebounds for the game.
“They’re a really physical team, and they really come after you on the glass,” Taylor said. “
While Ball State’s offense struggled, the team did limit Butler’s top three scorers to 30 points on 11-of-32 (34 percent) shooting. Rotnei Clarke, Khyle Marshall and Kellen Dunham finished with 15, 10 and 5 points, respectively.
Clarke, the Bulldogs’ senior transfer from Arkansas, was the main focus for the Cardinals. Taylor put Chris Bond on him for most of the game, and the junior forward said he could tell Clarke was getting frustrated at his lack of open looks.
“We watched clips on him, and I was just trying to have my hands up on him and not let him have any air space,” Bond said. “I was just trying to be in him and frustrate him the whole game.”
Bond may have frustrated Clarke, but most of the frustrations came from the Ball State sideline. The Cardinals were outscored 34-20 in the second half, but many of those buckets came after the game had already gotten away.
Despite the second half let-down, Taylor said the fourth-straight loss needs to be looked at in the big picture.
“I think we need to maintain perspective who we played this past week and the type of success these programs have had,” Taylor said. “While we didn’t win any of these games, and we came out to win each one of those games, we did get better. Now it’s important to carry that over into Monday’s practice, Tuesday’s practice and Wednesday’s game and then we can really see growth from our basketball team.”
