MUNCIE, Ind. — As the NCAA Transfer Portal expands more and more each season, the ebb and flow of players on a college roster has increased exponentially. Ball State’s Men’s Basketball team is no exception.
On Friday evening, the Cardinals hosted the Franklin College Grizzlies, a Division-III school located roughly 25 minutes south of Indianapolis. The Cardinals scheduled Franklin as a “tune-up” game following their challenging season-opener at Georgia State, where they fell 66-71.
The Cards came out on top against the Grizzlies 87-60 despite committing 19 turnovers as a team to improve to 1-1 on the season.
“I’m disappointed in our sloppiness,” said Head Coach Michael Lewis, who emphasized the importance of a team effort in the post-game press conference. “To have 19 turnovers against a defense that basically didn’t guard you, there was a lot of selfishness.”
The selfishness that Coach Lewis alluded to can partially be attributed to the influx of transfers on the roster this season. Ball State has six players on their roster this season who suited up for other schools last winter.
The most prominent of the six transfers is senior Payton Sparks, who spent his first two seasons in Muncie before a junior-year stint at Indiana.
“It felt good to see the fans there, to see my family is good. Just putting on the jersey, to put the number 5 jersey on, was great,” said Sparks when asked about his return to Worthen Arena.
As mentioned, Sparks isn’t the only Ball State player to switch threads over the off-season. Jermahri Hill, Ethan Brittain-Watts, Juanse Gorosito, Joey Hart and Jeremiah Hernandez all suited up for different colleges last season before transferring to Ball State over the summer, making chemistry a struggle for the team throughout the preseason.
“We’ve got a long way to go, and we’re no different than a lot of teams,” added Lewis. “A lot of teams are struggling with the same issues, getting guys to come together and perform as a team. Some teams are way ahead in that area than others; we’re way behind, in my opinion.”
The Cardinals will face another opportunity to strengthen their team chemistry when they take on the Dayton Flyers on Wednesday night.
Contact Jayden Collins with comments at jayden.collins@bsu.edu.
