Jesse Berry’s steps quickened as he drifted behind a teammate and drained a 3-pointer from the top of the circle to give Ball State its first lead with 9:31 left in the second half.
The junior guard jumped around as he headed down court, oozing with the confidence of a player who knew he just hit a big shot on the road against in-state rival Purdue.
Berry would get that identical shot less than nine minutes later, but it would look anything but similar.
Not just because he missed, but because Ball State’s patient, methodical offensive approach had evaporated and Berry was firing up desperation attempt to try and save the game.
“There was a stretch where we fell in love with the three-ball,” Berry said. “At the beginning we wanted to the ball inside first and then play off that, but it didn’t work out like that. We went away from the game plan, and when you away from the game plan, usually you don’t win.”
For 30-plus minutes that game plan of getting the ball in the paint, controlling the glass and getting good shots worked in Ball State’s favor on Saturday, until it crumbled into a 66-56 loss to Purdue.
“It’s difficult because we’re all disappointed with the outcome of tonight’s game,” coach Billy Taylor said. “We felt like we competed hard and played well and put ourselves in a position to win, but scoring 56 points on the road just isn’t going to get it done.”
For much of the game, Berry and freshman guard Marcus Posley were orchestrating the offense patiently, keeping the Cardinals within six points of the Boilermakers at halftime.
After Berry’s 3-pointer gave Ball State the lead, however, things fell apart. Taylor said the team took bad shots and made bad decisions with the ball.
“There were a lot of silly, unforced errors,” Taylor said. “Some of it was ball security where balls were tipped away from us and we weren’t physical enough with the basketball in our hands. We gave it away much too easily, but some of the mental breakdowns we had we just can’t tolerate.”
Whether it was traveling calls or fumbling the ball out of bounds off passes, Ball State’s offense broke down.
More often than not, Berry and Posley had the ball late in the shot clock and were left out to dry. The duo took 32 of Ball State’s 52 field goal attempts and scored 22 and 12 points, respectively.
“We did a poor job offensively and that’s why they took so many of those shots,” Taylor said. “We ran our preliminary action and then our motion offense just died. We put too much pressure on the guards to have to create and make a play.”
Purdue took a nine-point lead with 3:51 and Ball State trimmed it down to four before two Berry shots missed with under a minute to go.
Berry said the team tried to make too many big plays all at once and abandoned their approach from earlier in the game.
“When teams make runs, you want to answer right back with a punch,” Berry said. “I think we need to work on keeping our composure when teams make runs. There’s not an eight-point shot out there.”
Saturday’s loss keeps the Boilermakers at an undefeated 7-0 against the Cardinals in West Lafayette.
While coach Billy Taylor said many positives could be taken from this game, there was no hiding his or his players’ feelings on the outcome.
“They were very beatable,” Posley said. “We stuck to the game plan in the first half and the game was close, but shots just didn’t fall our way. As a team, I just don’t think we took the right shots at the right times, including myself. We just rushed a little bit and didn’t play with poise on the court. It happens, we just have to bounce back from it.”
