@ Ball State (2/15)

[mbenecke]

To finish our important road trip, our Falcons (18-7, 9-3) have another big fight, this time with the Ball State Cardinals (14-10, 7-4) on Saturday, February 15th at 1:00pm. This game will be available to stream on ESPN3.

We haven’t won in Muncie since January 7, 2017. Despite that stat, we have controlled the recent games in the series, winning 5 of the last 6 against them, including taking our first encounter this season, 67-61. This is yet another massive opportunity for us to go on the road and grab a signature win against a quality opponent.

I remember we started slow in our first game against them (I think we scored 2 points in the first 9 minutes before we got rolling), so we need a much better start this time around to win this one away from the Stroh. They’re going to be ready and wanting to take their shot at us, so we will need a much more consistent 40+ minutes effort to get the job done. The team we will be seeing is excellent and physical defensively, so we will need to be crisp with our passes and take care of the basketball.

Let’s do it. Beat Ball State. Go Falcons!

[zete]

Not much discussion on the Ball St game..... To an extent, it feels as if the party ended last night and this morning all of the balloons have fallen from the ceiling to the floor.

[mbenecke]

I get feeling down, but I'm not giving up.

Still in first place. Still a ton to play for. Still a lot to like about this team. We just need time to gel and get things figured out.

Let's do it.

[Matty B]

If we can pull out a split this Akron/Ball State road trip I'll be feeling pretty darn good.

[zete]

If Frye is not in Muncie tomorrow, I would think he is gone for good. By this point, Im sure, many level headed adults have talked things over with him.....a lot can change in a 10 day period. After tomorrow, if he's not around, I would think we may have seen the last of D Frye.

[guest44]

BG +6.5 vs Ball State. That means Frye is worth about 3 points in terms of the spread with & without. Knavel is really not going to like the NET ranking without Frye.

[BGSU33]

Akron went on the road and comfortably beat CMU (both are teams BG lost to in the last 3 outings), which pulls the Zips even with BG in the MAC standings thru tonight.

[mbenecke]

I’m not able to watch this one (just following the score on ESPN and on twitter) but I see we have a halftime lead, 37-30.

Need to finish strong.

[hammb]

I’m not able to watch this one (just following the score on ESPN and on twitter) but I see we have a halftime lead, 37-30.

Need to finish strong.

Finished the half on an 8-0 run. Couple nice threes from Diggs and Mattis to go with a very good half from Juice both scoring and distributing.

Our guards have played well all around and our bigs are working their asses off despite Teague being a beast. Nice to see Laster remembering how to score a bit.

We also got some favorable calls in our direction.

Plowden had a quiet first but has a bunch of boards already in the second.

[hammb]

Plowden with an and-1 dunk (ft pending) on a pretty feed from Turner (that probably was a travel). Puts BG up 14 at the under 12 timeout.

[zete]

Dylan who?

[hammb]

This is the best game we've played in conference. Great ball movement, protecting the ball, good defense, and absolutely killing BSU on the offensive glass.

Very nice to see us up 20 on somebody for a change. BSU isn't CMU or Akron, but this is a good team, especially defensively. And we've gotten whatever we've wanted on offense since about the 7-8 min mark of the first half.

[BleedOrange]

So how many times are we going to inbound the ball into the coffin corner against full court pressure? Can we please learn to adapt?

[hammb]

Boy did we s**t down our shorts after I made that post

Should still win but about 10 turnovers and a 14-0 run has BSU to the line down 5 with :30 to play.

WTF...

[BleedOrange]

Lead down to 5.

This is where we miss Frye.