Ball State Men’s Basketball (3-5) fell to Xavier (8-1), 96-50 Wednesday night.
The Cardinals entered the contest as 18-point underdogs according to ESPN’s Pick Center and that ended up almost doubled when the final buzzer sounded. How did this happen?
Inefficient shooting
Overall, the Cardinals shot 19-for-64 from the floor and 7-for-31 from three, coming out to around 29.7 percent and 22.6 percent, respectively.
Compare that to the Musketeer’s stats (34-for-64 from the field and 12-for-25 from three), and Xavier's total average field goal percentage comes out to a little over 50%.
Rebounding makes a big difference
Ball State was only able to grab 26 total rebounds throughout the whole game, with six coming from the offensive side of the glass and 20 coming from defense. When put side-by-side with the Musketeer’s rebounding stats and the difference is clear.
Xavier had 10 offensive rebounds and a whopping 41 rebounds on defense. Just off of their defensive rebounds, the Musketeers almost doubled the total amount of rebounds grabbed by the Cardinals.
Failing to bounce back after falling behind
While Ball State was able to jump out to an early 7-2 lead, Xavier would go on an 11-0 run and never look back. The 14:43 mark in the first half would be the last time the Cardinals had the lead, as a Xavier 3-pointer by Zach Freemantle gave the Musketeers the spark they needed.
Ball State looks to rebound this Sunday when they take on IU-Kokomo at Worthen Arena. Tip-off starts at 1 p.m. eastern and will be broadcast on ESPN3.
Contact Corbin Hubert with comments at cchubert@bsu.edu or on Twitter @corbin_hubert_
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