Forgettable Day in Muncie

The trip to Muncie Saturday is probably best forgotten.  Down 4 players with a very limited rotation, BS went right after us.  We had huge foul trouble the whole way.  BS led for 37 minutes. Coach Simon got ejected.  It was just a day to leave behind.

BG did not quit, to their credit.  They had been trailing by ten for at least half the game and early in the second half were down 18, but they kept chipping away.  With 5:33 left, BG was down 6, but from there it went bad fast, with BG giving up a 27-11 run to lose by 22.  During that run, Coach Simon was T'd twice and was ejected...it was just a fitting ending to a long day.

BG was playing without Towns, Khayat and Humphrey....and Preston Squire.  So, BG was down 3 big men on a team that was already not especially big.  And Ball State took advantage. They tried only 30% from 3FG, their lowest in a D1 game this year. When Felt was in the game for 15 minutes, BG was -1.  When he was not in the game, BG was -23.  Some of that was in the last couple minutes and I'm not claiming Felt is a game changing stopper at this point, but that's still a meaningful difference.

I noted in the preview that BSU is good at getting fouled, and they showed that for sure.  Felt fouled out, Thomas and Campbell had 4 and Johnson finished with 3.  Thomas played only 23 minutes....it will be hard for BG to win with that.

The key was shooting.  It was the second-worst shooting performance allowed by the BG defense, with only KC worse.  They made 67% from 2FG and 41% from 3FG.  BG shot 49% and 30%, which is not great.  The other major issue was FTs.  BG is regressing to the mean at the FT line and fast.  They were 11 of 22 at the line.  A few more FTs, and that 6-point deficit might have been very different.

BS ended up at 1.24 points per possession, and BG at .94.  BG has not won allowing more than 1.14 this year.  More shocking, all of BG's wins except NM State have come with over 1.15 points per possession....even D1 average offense is not good enough for BG to win.  BG is #294 in the nation in defensive efficiency.

Campbell had 13 on 6 of 8 2FG shooting.  It seems like we should be able to get him going more. Exacte had 12 on 3 of 5 3FG shooting, and 5 rebounds.  I think he has upside and he is getting some expedited on the job training with these injuries.  Johnson had 11, but it was 4 of 11 and 1 of 8 shooting.  He added six rebounds, 3 assists and 4 turnovers. Thomas had 10 on 2 of 5 and 2 of 6 shooting.  Felt had 5 rebounds, 1 block and 1 goaltending in 15 minutes.

The Falcons return home next week with Buffalo and EMU, two of the lesser teams in the MAC.  These are the teams BG needs to beat to make Cleveland, and this stretch is important.  In all honestly, splitting the road games this week was about all you might have expected.