After dealing with the nation’s second-leading scorer Thursday, Ball State would have just more than 42 hours to rest and prepare for another game – Northern Kentucky on Saturday afternoon.
Ball State had a whirlwind game Thursday, as it came back from eight down with 1:25 left to force overtime, and then won it in overtime against Detroit.
Ball State coach Brady Sallee said he “certainly hopes” that the win was a morale-booster for his team.
“I think probably just from a confidence standpoint, knowing that they can beat a team, knowing that they can execute a gameplan as well as we did, it has to help going forward,” he said.
One area in which the Cardinals improved Thursday was in the turnovers category. They came into the game averaging almost 20 turnovers per game, but limited themselves to just 13 against Detroit.
Ball State also improved its three-point shooting from previous games, shooting as good as it has since Nov. 23.
“We shot the ball a little bit better today from the three-point line,” Sallee said.
Northern Kentucky is just 1-5 this season so far, with its one win coming against Youngstown State. All of its losses have come from road games in 2012. Its lone win was at home.
Sallee said he first watched film of Northern Kentucky late Thursday night after the Detroit game.
“They’re a good basketball team, well-coached,” Sallee said. “They play their tails off. They play really, really hard. They’ve got some kids that can shoot it that we’re going to have to be really concerned with.”
One of those kids is Northern Kentucky forward Tiara Hopper.
Hopper, a senior, is averaging 12 points per game on just under 45 percent shooting.
“[Hopper] can really play with her back to the basket,” Sallee said. “She can face up and put it on the floor, and is very athletic. They’re going to challenge us quite a bit to defend them.”
Despite being just 5-foot-10, and with more than half of the team taller than her, Hopper leads Northern Kentucky in rebounds by almost two more per game than the next player.
They’ll mix up their defenses a little bit to give us some different looks on that end of the floor. It should be a pretty good matchup. I’m impressed with what I saw out of them.
We’re going to have to be good again tomorrow with the gameplan in order to get one.
Sallee said the quick turnaround from a Thursday night game to a Saturday afternoon game tested his players “between their ears.” The kids were good today, they understood the gameplan. They worked through everything. I think they understand what we have to do.
He said the plan for Saturday is to do a light practice in the morning, then be ready for the game in the afternoon.
Sallee said junior forward Katie Murphy will be a “true game-time decision” after injuring her right ankle midway through the first half in Thursday’s game. Sallee said her status depends on how the ankle responds to warm-ups before the game.
“She’s working her tail off in the training room trying to get back,” Sallee said. “We probably won’t know until tipoff whether she goes or not.”
