4 takeaways from Ball State's overtime loss to Ohio
By Zach Carter / February 6, 2024Jalin Anderson led Ball State with 22 points as the Cardinals fell to Ohio 84-79.
Jalin Anderson led Ball State with 22 points as the Cardinals fell to Ohio 84-79.
“It is exciting,” head coach Mike Fleck said after the Ball State men's golf win. “It's exactly the start I envisioned for this group.”
Here are some results from Delaware County sporting events from 1/29-2/3.
Ball State won just four percent of all games played (27/114).
It was a rocky start for Ball State, but once they received a total of 49.275 points for bars, they were able to gain a slim lead. Ball State was only ahead by .050 after the third event. It was anyone’s meet, but the Cardinals’ 49.325 points on floor sealed the deal for Ball State’s win, and the meet ended 196.075-195.525.
“Our team is kind of like a pineapple, you can serve it so many different ways,” junior Nyla Hampton said. “Sliced, chopped, little circles, chunks, you never know what you are going to get exactly. There are so many different ways to swing it, and it makes it fun for me to play that way.”
Ball State (12-10, 4-6 MAC) bounced back from a loss less than a week prior with a 77-67 win against Western Michigan (8-14, 5-5 MAC). The Cardinals return to action Tuesday, Feb. 6 against Ohio (12-10, 6-4 MAC) at Worthen Arena in Muncie, Indiana, at 7 p.m.
The Cardinals forced Ohio into seven turnovers and held them to just five points through the first eight minutes of Saturday’s game. Ball State’s full-court pressure has given teams trouble all season long and the Bobcats couldn’t get into any sort of offense to start the game.
In spite of the sizable contingent of fans in attendance, No. 15 Ball State was unable to manufacture a winning performance. The Cardinals fell to No. 8 Penn State (7-2) in a three-set battle (24-26, 22-25, 19-25).
“We had a tough matchup,” head coach Bill Richards said. “All in all, I thought we made a good effort. It's always disappointing to lose, but I thought we played at a pretty good level and that's really what we talk about, win or lose, is playing at a level where you give yourself a chance [to succeed].”
The Cardinals have been ranked third in the collegeinsider.com mid-major poll (rankings for a number of non-Power-Five conferences) for eight straight weeks. After its Jan. 21 win against the fourth-ranked team in that poll, Toledo, Ball State got six votes from various coaches around the country to be in the USA Today top 25 coaches poll the following week. This week, it got 11 votes in that poll.
Despite gameplay suspended for 20 minutes after a court-clearing brawl, Muncie Central won its first game of 2024 with a victory against North Central Conference foe Marion. Muncie Central will remain at home for its next game to take on Pendleton Heights (9-10) Feb 6 at 7:30 p.m.
Senior Jackson Wors led the Eagles with 19 points as the blue and gold fell to Greenfield-Central 45-41.
Ball State’s emotional rally in the second set proved to be critical Thursday night, as it set the foundation for the 15th-ranked Cardinals win (23-25, 26-24, 27-25, 25-23) over No. 11 Loyola Chicago (5-6, 0-1 MIVA) in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) opener.
As a player and coach, Audrey McDonald-Spencer has been involved with Ball State women's basketball for nearly two decades.
Sallee said the group has a will to win games. He said everyone on the team trusts everybody. With trust, the team is able to win with so many options, causing problems for any opponent.
Ball State’s Jan. 27 against Eastern Michigan saw them assist on 21 of their 28 field goals. It’s a trend that head coach Brady Sallee said is a “barometer” for how well their offense is running.
Addy Barnes was voted as the Ball State Daily News Delaware County Athlete of the Week for the week of 1/17-1/24.
