“We did not have a consistent enough effort,” Ball State coach Billy Taylor said. “We were mentally engaged enough in our game plan, which was to guard the basketball tough.”
The now 5-10 IUPUI Jaguars came into Worthen Arena injury depleted and undersized, but still found ways to get open-looks on offense and discombobulate Ball State on defense.
IUPUI shot 51.9 percent from the field and 50 percent from behind the arc, despite missing its second leading scorer, Mitchell Patton (14.4 points per game), and only having seven scholarship-players available.
Of the nine Jaguars who saw action against Ball State, three were on the court for 10 minutes or less. Marcellus Barksdale even played the majority of his two minutes with only one shoe.
The players that were on the court for IUPUI got an early lead and held onto it. IUPUI head coach Todd Howard said the good start right from the tip-off made all of the difference in the game.
“We got out of the gates in good fashion,” Howard said. “We helped ourselves, we rebounded early, took care of the ball early and we got a shot every time down. Good things happen.
“Then you’re able to play downhill.”
Dribble-drive penetration was the thorn in the Cardinals’ side all afternoon. It didn’t matter who was on the top of the key for IUPUI, the first man got beat time and time again.
“IUPUI was able to drive the ball to the paint, pretty much at will against our defense,” Taylor said.
Then IUPUI distributed the ball well after Ball State’s first defensive rotation, whether it was for a dunk by Lyonell Gaines for the Jaguars’ first points or for one of Sean Esposito’s six three-pointers.
“When that ball dribbles, help is coming,” Howard said. “And [Ball State] dare[s] you to make that play.
“We made them pay only because the ball went through the net.”
As a team, IUPUI knocked down 11 from downtown, and almost all of them were uncontested, shoot around looks.
Esposito came into the came averaging just four points and shooting 20.4 percent from three-point range.
“We have to be able to contest guys, and make them continue to struggle instead of giving them comfortable looks,” Taylor said. “Those kind of comfortable threes can get a guy going.”
Taylor and players attributed the poor on-ball defending and most of the team’s problems to an aloof mentality.
“I think it started with our mindset,” junior forward Tyler Koch said, in an almost embarrassed tone. “I don’t know where everyone’s head is at, you know, we kind of dug ourselves into a hole early.”
Senior JauwanScaife echoed that sentiment when asked whether IUPUI was just quicker than other teams the Cardinals have faced.
“No [they were not], I don’t think so,” Scaife said. “I think we broke down and had more mental lapses than usual.”
Ball State’s offense could not seem to get into a groove. Even though the Cardinals shot 48 percent from the field, for about 30 minutes of the game it felt like they were lucky to just be down by the current deficit.
With IUPUI missing the 6-9 Patton, Ball State thought it would be able to get a little more production from its post-man, double-double machine MajokMajok. But once again the Jaguars were one-step ahead.
“We just had to fly at him,” Howard said. “We tried to wear him out on the other end, and I think that played its course.”
Jesse Berry struggled to find any openings on offense as well. Ball State’s leading scorer, coming off a 22-point game at Purdue, was held to 1-6 from the field and finished with nine points.
At the 14:16 minute mark in the second half, Taylor tried to spark his team, and subbed in five new players, including younger guys that generally don’t see much playing time.
“All five guys gave tremendous effort,” Taylor said. “They gave us energy which we needed in the worst way.”
That hustle permeated through Ball State’s sideline and seemed to infect everybody. When the five substitutes transitioned out of the game, the intensity stayed the same.
Koch snatched a rebound and handed it off the Marcus Posley. All of Worthen could hearBerry yell, “Pos! Push!”
Berry found himself in position to knock down his trademark transition three, but the ball rattled in and out. Meeting the ball coming off the rim was a sprinting Koch, who followed the play all the way. Koch came down with it, and laid the ball in to cut the lead to 59-56.
Then after trading baskets, the Cardinals had three straight empty possessions, and Esposito hit his last two daggers of the game.
Taylor hopes this is the last time he sees his team play with this kind of mindset and energy.
“We’ve got to get to a point where we are bringing hustle every game,” Taylor said. “It’s not a matter of if we do it, it’s when we do it.”
Ball State takes on its last non-conference opponent Norfolk State on Jan. 2 before starting Mid-American Conference play a week later against Eastern Michigan.
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