Ball State newcomers
Tahjai Teague - Forward
Trey Moses - Forward/Center
Nate Wells - Center
Naiel Smith - Guard
Tayler Persons - Guard
Ball State has added five newcomers to its roster, four of which will be eligible to play in the 2015-16 season. Whitford said his staff did a nice job of adding competition for playing time and insurance for the inevitable, such as injuries.
“That’s the great thing about sports," Whitford said. "It’s a competitive environment, and that’s what we’ve been trying to create here. Where guys push each other, you have enough depth where guys know how hard they have to work.”
Ball State's main priority in adding players to the roster was improving size.
Last season, the Cardinals' starting center and biggest player was Matt Kamieniecki, who stood at 6-foot-8.
Ball State added Trey Moses, a 6-foot-9 forward/center out of Eastern High School in Kentucky, along with forward Tahjai Teague. Teague is a 6-foot-8 forward that starred for Pike High School in Indianapolis.
Whitford said the emphasis was to defend in and around the post. The Cardinals finished 312th out of 345 teams last season by allowing their opponents to shoot 46 percent from the field, according to NCAA.com.
Ball State helped its cause even more with the addition of Nate Wells. Wells, a 7-foot-1 transfer, played for Bradley in the Missouri Valley Conference.
“We always tweak our style of play with our players," Whitford said. "So we certainly will change — or tweak — our style defensively … I think having that size allows us to do that much better and takes pressure off a lot of other areas of our defense.”
Another void filled through newcomers was the backcourt. Ball State rotated guards last season between Zavier Turner, Jeremie Tyler, Francis Kiapway and Jeremiah Davis.
Tyler, Kiapway and Davis are all returners for the team this season.
Help has arrived, however, in the form of 6-foot-4 point guard Naiel Smith from San Jacinto College. Smith averaged 6.8 points, 4.8 assists and 4.4 rebounds during his time at San Jacinto.
Whitford said Smith can make an impact as a pass-first point that has the ability to take care of the ball.
Ball State averaged 14.1 turnovers per game last season, and was 11th in the Mid-American Conference with a -2.13 turnover margin.
The Cardinals picked up another established guard with the addition of Tayler Persons this summer. Persons is a transfer from Northern Kentucky and was an Indiana All-Star from Kokomo in 2014.
Persons led Northern Kentucky in scoring, assists, steals and minutes per game last season. He was a Second Team All-Atlantic Sun selection and the league's Freshman of the Year.
“Like [Wells and Smith], he’s already proven he can play at a high level," Whitford said.
Persons will sit out as a redshirt this season. He will be eligible for the 2016-17 year.
With the addition of Persons, Ball State now has four Indiana All-Stars on its roster for the first time since 2001-02.
Whitford said with the addition of highly-touted players and other players to fill needs, the Cardinals are looking forward to the future.
“I think it’s paramount to success — to be able to have competition in your own program," Whitford said.
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