BUFFALO, N.Y. — A 30-minute delay to tip-off, two flight delays and landing in Buffalo two hours before game time was the battle before the game for Ball State women’s basketball. Now, it is safe to say the Cardinals earned their road win over Buffalo.
Ball State (12-4, 4-0) has started Mid-American Conference (MAC) play electric, scoring an average of 80.3 points per game and beating opponents by an average of 18.6 points. The Cardinals did not slow today after flying out of Muncie only a few hours before tip-off against Buffalo (13-2, 2-2).
“I think one of the stories of this game is you got to put it in context,” head coach Brady Sallee said. “We couldn't fly out last night, we went to the airport, sat there for two or three hours, and couldn't get out. We had to readjust and had to fly out this morning. We got delayed this morning again, got out about an hour and 15 minutes late, and literally landed in Buffalo at noon.”
“It was just a frantic, frantic 12 hours for our whole team.”
Although it was a struggle, Sallee was happy with the way his team was able to adjust and lock in for their big game against Buffalo
“Once we got to the arena, I think we were able to take a deep breath and just go business as usual,” he said. “That was the first time everything kind of calmed down, and it was just ‘OK, it’s game time now.’ I think a lot of teams would lose focus with all that going on.”
Once the Cardinals arrived in Buffalo, the headline of the success came on the defensive end. Ball State played hard defense and controlled the paint and glass for the entire 40 minutes.
“I think, defensively, we were really good,” Sallee said. “Rebounding the ball was good and we were able to get the ball to the rim. I thought that was a good win over a team that's going to win a lot of games.”
The size of Ball State set apart the flow of the game. The Cardinals operated inside-out and slowed down Buffalo’s fast-paced style of play.
“Analytically, they do a really good job of keeping the ball out of the paint, so we knew it was going to be hard to get it there,” Sallee said. “But then, once we got it there, we felt like we had a real advantage. Our kids did a great job of getting it there and executing there.”
They did not have much time to prepare and practice slowing down Buffalo, and it showed at times with Buffalo scoring 26 transition points.
“We didn't have time to practice it a ton, but we talked long and hard about what our transition defense had to look like,” Sallee said. “I thought for the most part, our kids were so locked in, and did such a good job loading to the ball and not giving them the gaps to drive get to the rim. They got a couple guards that are slippery, and you give them an inch and they can get right through there and get it up on the rim.”
The Cardinals came out of the gates quickly, at the first media timeout they held an 11-4 lead. Senior bigs Alex Richard and Elise Stuck both had four points early on and continued to have success.
The paint play continued to excel and Ball State held a 12-point lead after one period of play and 12 of the 22 points came from the paint. At half-time, Ball State held a 43-25 lead. Maliyah Johnson had 10 points at the break, a season-high.
The lead was cut after the third quarter which saw Buffalo outscore Ball State 20-14. Although the Bulls took a chunk out of the lead, Ball State bent but did not break. The Cardinals outscored the Bulls 21-11 in the fourth to pull away with a win.
“I thought the reason they were able to beat us in the quarter was we just turned it over a little bit,” Sallee said. “We missed some layups, which led to runouts, and we had made those all game. So I told them, ‘We're good, we're doing everything. They're just getting a couple of breaks to go their way. We got a 12-point lead and we know what to do, we know how to win.’”
Stuck scored 20 points with 15 rebounds, Richard had 17 points and Johnson had 12 points and 10 rebounds. Two Cardinal bigs scored double-doubles to back up the dominating paint play.
Post-game, things were still different. The Cardinals were ushered off the court and into their buses to get to the airport as soon as possible.
“I mean, even at the end of the game, we had no music, we ran to the locker room, no showers, got on the bus and needed to get out,” Sallee said. “If we didn’t get going, we're not getting home. It's been the craziest thing I've ever experienced but our kids handled it like absolute champs and we got a big win out of it.”
Even with everything that happened, Salle does not want the traveling mishaps to be the main story of the game and to mask the win.
“I don't want travel to be the story,” he said. “The way these kids played at Buffalo against that team with a ton of confidence, I thought we imposed our will with our size and strength. I thought that ended up being the real story.”
Ball State hits the road again Jan. 15 against Kent State. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Contact Logan Connor via email at logan.connor@bsu.edu or via X @_loganconnor
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