Michael Lewis was not happy during Ball State’s 70-59 loss to Detroit Mercy on Wednesday evening. Shaking his head, yelling at players and hitting the scorer’s desk were all things the third-year head coach did as the Cardinals tried to get back in the contest.
None of those things helped as the red and white lost their third-straight game.
“Offensively, we will continue to shoot 38 percent until I am able to fix this offense,” Lewis said. “I will be fixing it tomorrow because we're going to have to pass the basketball. If you don't want to pass the basketball, you're not going to have a choice.”
The Cardinals only had 11 assists in the contest, and they turned the ball over 15 times. They went 17-for-44 from the field and 5-for-25 from 3-point range. Coming into this season, the Cardinals added multiple new players. Five games in, Lewis said they are still having issues getting guys not to play selfishly.
“We're just very selfish offensively, and guys don't like it when I use that word,” he said. “I've explained to them in different ways what selfishness is. When you take a bad shot or you turn the ball over and you don't sprint the floor, that's selfish. When your job is to set a screen and execute in a set, but you don't set a screen, that's selfish.
“We couldn't even get in a zone set today and we couldn't get five guys on the same page.”
Lewis said he’s been reading articles and trying to find other ways to change the Cardinals’ attitude. For the last two games, he mentioned his staff has shown them good clips of NBA teams or other college teams who have found success.
But that hasn’t helped. Lewis said guys have dropped their eyes when a play called in a timeout huddle isn’t going to them.
“What pisses me off right now is there are some other guys that are finding the answers and solving the problem much quicker than my staff and I are,” Lewis said. “That's where I got to be better.”
Sitting right next to Lewis in the post-game press conference was redshirt senior Mickey Pearson Jr. and junior Juanse Gorosito. While both played well against the Titans – Pearson Jr. had a double-double (12 points and 11 rebounds) and Gorosito had 12 points – both echoed what their coach said.
“I got to be better as a leader and better when things aren't going my way,” Pearson Jr. said. “Knowing that I'm the older guy on the team, they look to me for some of that type of stuff. We are going through a rough patch right now.”
Gorosito agreed with everything both Lewis and Pearson Jr. said when discussing the teams’ issues.
“We have to share the ball more and just have to put the team first,” he said.
While Lewis is fighting the problem of selfishness, he said that all college coaches are going through it. With players being able to move on from a university after only one season, setting a standard is hard.
“If I was in their position, I would probably be the same way,” Lewis said. “And then you've got a crazy, bald, white dude and his staff trying to get you to do it for Ball State.”
But that’s his goal. To him, it doesn't matter if the players see him as a ‘crazy, bald, white guy.’ He wants the Cardinals to look at something bigger than themselves and find a way to translate it on the court.
“Until we get guys that are playing for the front of the jersey, we're going to struggle,” he said. “It's a challenge that I've got to be better at because everybody is telling them, get yours, get yours. And it's all about you, you and you. My staff and I are trying to preach to the team and what's best for Ball State. We have not been able to get that across.”
Yet, Lewis doesn’t just want the team to find a way to play unselfishly. He put it as simply as this: finding their joy for the game.
“They played the game because they love it,” Lewis said. “And if anybody is in their life that is trying to steal that joy from playing the game of basketball, then they've got to separate themselves from that for the time being… The game is a team game and that's what you fell in love with.”
Ball State will begin its five-game road trip when the Cardinals play in their first game of the Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Florida. They will face Eastern Kentucky Monday, Nov. 25 at noon.
Contact Zach Carter at zachary.carter@bsu.edu or via X @ZachCarter85.
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