On Saturday afternoon Ball State took on cross-state rival Indiana State. The Cardinals were looking to rebound and get back in the win column after dropping their last game on the road against Dayton. The red and white would lose to their instate rival 94-84 after a back-and-forth affair. Here are three takeaways from the Cardinals' loss.

Payton Sparks looking for his shot

To begin this season, Sparks has sometimes seemed timid offensively when he gets the ball. In the preseason All-MAC centers first stint with the Cardinals, he was a dominant force in the post. When he decided to return to Muncie the Cardinal faithful anticipated a similar paint presence from the big man.

Sparks showed some of that offensive aggressiveness in the early going putting up four early points in as many minutes on 2-for-3 shooting. Even when Sparks didn’t score it seemed to be more of a point to get him paint touches and let him go to work down low and draw fouls.

In the first three games of the season, Sparks had only attempted nine field goals, but in the first half against the Sycamores alone he had taken eight shots. The Winchester native ended the night with 16 points to lead Ball State in scoring.

Getting everyone involved

Throughout the game, there looked to be an emphasis on passing the ball and getting everyone going. In the first half, eight of the ten players who saw minutes contributed to the 39 points the Cardinals tacked on, with no one going over double digits. 

The usual scoring suspects for Ball State like graduate student Ethan Britain-Watts and junior Jermahri Hill struggled to find the bottom of the net. Without two of your top three leading scorers contributing offensively you need other guys to step up and the Cardinals were able to find that on the bench for a majority of the contest.  The biggest contributions off the bench came from freshman TJ Burch who notched 14 points and junior Juanse Gorosito who added 11 points as well.

The communication on the court and the fluidity of the offense seemed much smoother against the Sycamores than in the Cardinals' previous three games. That communication and playing together as a team allowed for the red and white to have more balance offensively than there has been up to this point in the season.

Loss of energy midway through second half

Throughout most of the matchup, it was tightly contested and usually a one-score game. At around the seven-minute mark to go in the second half Ball State seemed to lose some energy and fight that was shown up to that point. The Sycamores began to pull away after the ball game was tied at 66 a piece but then the visitors went on a 9-1 scoring run to begin to pull away.

With the way Ball State finished their game against Dayton Cardinals head coach Michael Lewis was expected more of that energy and fire to carry over for the entirety of the matchup.  Losing momentum and fight, the red and white began to not be able to keep up with the visitors and struggled to contain ball handlers. 

Putting together a complete game has been a struggle thus far in the young season for Ball State. The Cardinals have been in search of a lineup that fits and plays well together for a full 40 minutes. If Ball State can find that they may just find success.

Contact David Moore with comments at david.moore@bsu.edu or on X @gingninj63

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