Berry says opponents’ zone defense will test Ball State in opener

Head coach Billy Taylor has always said he tries to schedule teams comparable to Mid-American Conference opponents in the nonconference schedule, and that correlation is immediately noticeable for Ball State this season.

In the team’s last game against Norfolk State, junior guard Jesse Berry described the Spartans’ defenders as “going up against a bunch of Chris Bonds.” Long, rangy and athletic, Bond is known to use his physical skills to be a disruptive defender.

When Ball State (6-6) opens its Mid-American Conference season at Eastern Michigan (7-7) on Wednesday, Taylor said the team will be going up against similar body types in 6’6” Daylen Harrison and 6’8” Glenn Bryant as wing players in the Eagles’ 2-3 zone.

“They just present a lot of problems with their length,” Taylor said. “Eastern does a good job of getting out and contesting shooters and their forwards come up extremely high. Even when you penetrate their zone, they have shot blockers in there that can contest and change shots. They make it very difficult to score in the painted area.”

Ball State has had success against zoning teams in two wins against South Dakota this season, but Taylor said the Coyotes usually played a lineup of four guards that were packed 3-point line and in.

The Eagles’ aggressive style and limited amount of offensive opportunities given to opponents make them the MAC’s second best scoring defense at 63.1 points allowed per game.

“They force you to use a lot of clock to try and get the shot that you want,” Taylor said. “You end up playing a little bit slower and end up taking more difficult shots than you want to.”

Despite the team’s defensive capabilities, Eastern Michigan has struggled to produce on the other end.

Harrison (10.0 ppg), Bryant (10.4 ppg) and senior Derek Thompson (11.4 ppg) all boast double-figure scoring averages, but the Eagles have a -5.1 scoring margin this season. Those numbers are a little bit skewed, however, by lopsided losses to Syracuse, Michigan and Kentucky by a combined 127 points.

Taylor said it’s hard to judge a MAC team during the nonconference because the strength of schedule ranges from team-to-team, but if preseason polls mean anything, the Cardinals’ start to the conference season is tough.

Ball State plays at Eastern Michigan, against Kent State and at Akron to begin league play. All three teams finished in the top-three spots of either the MAC West or East Division in the preseason poll.

The Cardinals don’t play a team from the MAC East Division until Jan. 24 last season, but changes to the league schedule made divisional crossover games more random this season.

“I did like how it was before with the divisional games first and then the crossover segment,” Taylor said. “It had a nice flow to the schedule, and now it’s a little bit jumbled up. But you play everybody anyway, so we’ll look forward to it and take on the challenges as they present themselves.

[With Eastern Michigan] We get a chance to prove some things right away.”