Game #11 - Ball State - ARC - Mon Dec 17 - 7pm - ESPN+ - the Payback continues

[VUGrad1314]

Nice job digging up a month old thread to take an unnecessary shot at the players\coach.

1. The team you see now isn't the same one that played Ball State

2. The injuries to Fazekas and Golder are by far the primary reason for our struggles yet we're still just a few possessions of bad execution late in games from a respectable 6-3 or even 7-2 mark.

[wh]

Any of you still justifying the shallacking we took from Ball State since "they're a really good team"?

2-6 in conference 🤔✌️

At a glance it appears they're not at full strength right now. W/L records can head south pretty fast when that happens - as we know all too well. BTW I was at the BSU/Valpo game. They were very good. Apparently, now they're not.

https://www.ballstatedaily.com/article/2019/01/ball-state-sports-mens-basketball-buffalo-day-two

[bbtds]

Any of you still justifying the shallacking we took from Ball State since "they're a really good team"?

2-6 in conference 🤔✌️

Part of a story on the Ball State - Ohio U game in the Muncie Star Press.

MUNCIE, Ind. — It seemed as if Ball State got all the breaks late in games last season. Or maybe you could say the Cardinals – and Tayler Persons, specifically – made their own luck.

But for whatever reason, the 2018-19 season has been the opposite, with the latest example coming Saturday at Ohio. The Cardinals shot the lights out (relatively speaking) but still came up short against the Bobcats 78-74.

Ball State (11-9, 2-5 MAC), which travels to No. 14 Buffalo on Tuesday, is a couple plays from being 6-1 in league play. Aside from that odd home loss to Ohio, each loss has come down to the final minute, but the Cardinals simply haven't made enough winning plays to turn solid performances into wins.

That trend appeared to be changing Saturday as Kyle Mallers looked like he took a charge on the pivotal possession, but it wasn't called. Then his man, Gavin Block, promptly nailed the go-ahead 3-pointer with 39 seconds left as Mallers scrambled to recover.

That's what kind of season it's been, unlike last year when Persons hit three game-winning 3-pointers and several other late-game shots. Ball State is now 2-6 in games decided by single digits, including 0-4 in MAC play.

Ball State's Kyle Mallers scored 10 points Saturday at Ohio.


It appears that BSU just hasn't had the breaks in conference that they had last year.

Valpo, of all teams, should know that just a few more successful plays at the end of games can turn a last place conference finish into a mid-conference finish.

[tiny707]

Ball State is "a couple of plays away from 6-1 in conference play."

[bigmosmithfan1]

Ball State has been missing two of their best shooters for the past month (Ishmael El-Amin and Hazen's brother). Their senior center, Trey Moses, is now out with a knee injury, as well. Can't compare them now to when they were at full strength -- they're currently a shell of the team we saw in December.

[VU2010]

But ... we were at full-strength when we played Ball State too... hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha guess that's irrelevant though?

[crusader05]

But your comment was trying to imply that team that beat us is the same team going 2-6 in conference and the other commenters were arguing that it isn't. People were plenty pissed that we lost of Ball State, but I think the comments were just trying to say that your argument was a bit like comparing apples to oranges. Just like my guess is Missouri State would much rather play the short handed Valpo team they saw this week then they would playing the roster that stomped them at home. 

Look, I get that you're down on the program right now. But I can't help but feel that your most recent comment ignored that people were honestly trying to engage with your criticism and that's not fair to the other posters.

[VU2010]

Here's something we can all agree on - we need a W tomorrow and WE'RE GONNA GET IT!!!!