Ball State men’s basketball has played nine games this season. The Cardinals have three games left in 2024 until Mid-American Conference (MAC) play starts in January.
Head coach Michael Lewis is worried about his team’s ability to compete.
“Definitely worried about it. No question, I’m worried about it,” Lewis said. “I'm really concerned because I thought we got better in Florida. [The struggles] came back, and maybe we're just gonna fight that all year.”
When they ended their three-game stretch in the Gulf Coast Showcase 10 days ago, the third-year Cardinals’ coach believed they were in a good spot. He thought they were taking the correct steps to become a team.
Today’s 82-69 road defeat to SIU Edwardsville (SIUE) – amongst other things – proved to him that was not the case.
“We didn't practice particularly well when we got back,” he said. I don't know if [it was us] playing [three straight] games, and then all of a sudden you don't have something on your calendar for over a week. I know really good teams that I've been around. It didn't matter if it was practice or a game, those dudes were wired up.
“They were wired up to compete and get better and push each other in practice. We don't have enough of that.”
But it’s not just him. Redshirt senior center Ben Hendriks – who had a season-high 13 points in the loss and is the longest-tenured Cardinal – was equally as frustrated.
“Down the line, it doesn't matter who it is,” Hendriks said. “If we want to start winning games, it's just our mentality. We've got to change.”
Though the contest became one that had coaches and players alike scratching their heads after its conclusion, the Cardinals had some of the best play this season in the opening half. Junior guard Juanse Gorosito was 5-for-8 from 3-point range and had 15 points at halftime.
“Most of the guys were [creating shots] for me, and I was able to knock it down for the team,” he said. “So at the end of the day, those shots were created by my teammates, and I think that's the reason why we were playing well.”
Ball State’s bench had its moments and 18 points to SIUE’s six. But near the end of the second half, things started to shift. The Cougars went on an 8-0 scoring run to end the first half, only trailing the Cardinals 41-39.
But after the Cardinals returned to the court to play the rest of the game, everything changed.
“We weren't nearly as efficient in execution,” Lewis said. “You come out of a timeout, and these things are inexcusable. It's on me, because obviously, a guy or two didn't understand coming out of the huddle, and you can't execute a play. You got guys in the wrong spots, and we're not mature enough as players to understand and play through that. It's gotta be perfect for [our] guys.”
There were multiple points where the Cardinals could have come back in the game. But miscues and poor decision-making allowed them to go down as much as 15 when they led the Cougars by nine earlier in the game.
To Lewis, the aftermath of the loss showcased what the issue with this roster is.
“In the locker room tonight after the game, I stood in there and listened to us chatter,” he said. “We had one guy talking. We got one guy talking about things that have to be corrected, things that we got to be better at, and everybody else was feeling sorry for themselves.”
During his tenure at Ball State, Lewis has spoken about how basketball can prepare athletes for life outside of the game. He spoke about it again today, but his tone was different. He believes this team might not be ready for those challenges.
“You can learn everything you need to learn from this game to be successful in life,” he said. “...It may not be in the cards for you to be a professional basketball player. It's not in the cards for a majority of the people, right? But you can learn from this game what it takes to be successful. We are failing miserably at understanding some of those things, and that it's a direct reflection on me.”
But there was one thing that he kept going back to: the Cardinals’ competitiveness.
“I think we lack competitiveness and that really doesn't sit well with me, because I'm sitting in this seat because I was a competitor,” he said. “I wasn't a great athlete… I've been [in places] where if a practice wasn't going well, you just made it competitive. You had two or three guys that would just raise it to a new level [and] that would bring everybody up.
“That's what I'm concerned about in life. If you're just going to take what somebody gives you, it's going to be a long and lonely life. You've got to be able to fight, scratch and claw. Because, trust me, man, life doesn't care. They don't care who you are, where you come from, what you're like. They’ll just eat you up if you don't have some competitiveness and figure out ways to be successful.”
During the presser, the two athletes who sat next to him – Gorosito and Hendriks – didn’t look surprised by their coach's demeanor. At one point, Gorosito dropped an ‘mmhmm’ after Lewis called his team out about their spirit.
When Hendriks was asked about his stance on the team’s issues, he was honest just like his head coach.
“I'd say I have a lot more experience than guys in a college [basketball] environment,” Hendriks said. “But I think a good way to talk about it is like a forest fire starts somewhere. It's just got to burn through everybody. Maybe it's me or somebody else, [but] we just got to figure out someone to start a little fire that'll cause a giant fire for the whole team to get going.”
Ball State will have another long decent break until they head to Bellarmine Saturday, Dec. 14. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m.
With the days getting closer and closer to the MAC season, Lewis believes the team is in a spot where they need to find themselves. And it has to happen sooner than later.
“I said it to somebody this past week, we haven't had a fight in two years,” Lewis said. “We had a fight my first year [here]... I'm not encouraging fighting. We stop it and all that, but we don't have enough competitive fire within our group to improve.”
Contact Zach Carter via email at zachary.carter@bsu.edu or via X @ZachCarter85.
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