Before tonight, the last time Ball State senior Payton Sparks played inside Worthen Arena was March 3, 2023. Tonight, the returning Cardinal took the court after being away for one season at Indiana University.
“It felt good to see the fans and to see my family,” he said. “Just to put on a jersey and to put the No. 5 five jersey on. It's a great feeling.”
Sparks tied for the team-leading 17 points with junior guard Jemahri Hill and went 9-for-12 at the free-throw line as the Cardinals defeated the visiting Franklin Grizzlies 87-60. Head coach Michael Lewis was not satisfied with the result.
“I'm just frustrated with how we're operating as a team,” Lewis said. “I don't think we're doing that extremely well, and I think some guys are frustrated because it may not be going their way. They got to get past that and understand that winning is the most important thing.
“If they're not about winning, then this is not the place for them.”
Throughout the Cardinals’ first win of the 2024-25 season, turnovers hurt them. Bad passes, trying to do too much and interesting on-court decisions led to the Grizzlies’ buckets. Though Lewis respects Franklin's program – and he said so at length to open the post-game press conference – he knew they were not on Ball State’s level.
“Like no disrespect, but we played Franklin, okay?” Lewis said. “If we performed better against Georgia State, maybe you feel differently, right? We've got a long way to go, and we're no different than a lot of teams. Talking to other coaches, a lot of teams are struggling with the same issues of getting guys to come together and perform as a team.
“We're way behind, in my opinion. We got a long way to go, but we have real ability on this team. We have good, talented players. They've just got to become a team.”
But it wasn’t just the play the third-year Ball State head coach was upset with. Near the 12-minute mark of the second half, Hill attempted to drive to the basket. On his way up, he was fouled hard by Franklin senior guard Lynn King. Sparks and graduate student guard Ethan Brittain-Watts jumped in to defend their teammate.
While Lewis was not upset about that reaction, he was upset that Brittain-Watts was given a technical minutes later for saying something during an inbounds play.
“Franklin is doing us a favor by coming in here and playing,” he said. “They get one opportunity to play in this type of atmosphere, and we can provide that. You don't act that way, and that's not why Ethan's here. I've discussed that with Ethan. He knows he's better than that.
“I don't expect that to be an issue again. That's unacceptable here.”
Though the red and white earned their first win of the year and first home victory, Lewis didn’t enjoy how they earned the win. To him, they would have lost to any other team.
“If we'd have played anybody at our level, we'd have lost tonight,” he said.
The Cardinals will next travel to Dayton for a date with the Flyers Nov. 13. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
Going from a Division 3 to a Division 1 team is something the players aren’t too worried about.
“I look at it like it doesn't matter who we play,” Hill said. “It's a game. We got to go in and try to destroy our opponent either way.”
While Lewis thinks the Cardinals will be fine preparing for the Flyers, he didn’t hesitate to call out his team for their prep work for tonight’s contest against the Grizzlies.
“I think it's [an issue] for these guys, and until that changes, we're not going to reach our ceiling,” Lewis said. “These guys know who Dayton is. I don't anticipate having the problems that we've had the last two days in trying to get guys to prepare.
“When preparation is an inconvenience for your team, you're setting yourself up to lose… Our preparation for the last two days was an inconvenience for too many of our guys.”
Contact Zach Carter via email at zachary.carter@bsu.edu or via X @ZachCarter85.
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