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Win 4 in a row by beating Kent St. at Kent St. and this season gets interesting again in a hurry. Go to their house and get shoved around again and many will lose interest again in a hurry. What'll it be? Kent has been suspect against strong defense scoring 54 twice (NIU/BSU) and getting drubbed 70-49 by a EMU team that's quickly getting hot with their zone defense. They also put up 87 at home against Ohio. Defend, defend, defend, rebound. If we bring physicality to those 4 components we can right this ship.

Agree totally. And limit turnovers and stay out of foul trouble. And make foul shots.

The only I’ll say to this is that a good team can win in many different ways. Ball St is a solid defensive team. Earlier in the season we don’t win a game like this. But tonight we did bc we hit free throws, didn’t turn the ball over, rebounded and played stellar defense. Offense can come and go but the hustle and focus should remain high. And tonight it was. And that won us the game. Our will and determination. And to me this was a big sign of maturation. And to your point hopefully we continue to ascend.

He gave a defensive and rebounding clinic tonight as he does most nights. He held Teague to four points. Another huge double double. And without him turning the tide around in the first half one could easily argue this would have been a loss tonight rather than a huge W. While that is all true, at least imo, what I’d like to highlight is his defense on screens. It is truly outstanding and likely the best I’ve ever seen from a UB player. Unlike his teammates who are often times in no man’s land when their man sets a screen, Josh jumps on top of the screen and stymies the play’s design by stopping the dribbler in his tracks thusly the opponents offense altogether. Secondly if his teammate doesn’t recover Josh is athletic and tall enough to defend and give the opponent fits. When his teammate does recover Josh despite being out beyond the top of the key on occasion is still able to recover and get back to guard his man down low. To see this in action is a thing of beauty. His screen defense is among the best in the country! Look for it in the games ahead. One non Josh related item. I thought I caught Jordan looking at the floor just prior to his release on a foul shot. It could explain why he’s such a poor free throw shooter. I was always taught to lock into to your target before shooting.

It's amazing how many on here wanted to ship the coaching staff out of town and now they're all quiet (especially one or two loud ones). The team is 8-5 in league currently, on pace for a 20 win season, after losing 5 seniors (2 of whom are probably top 5 all time players at UB and 2 others were All-MAC selections), 2 bench coaches and multiple other basketball personnel , and an entire recruiting class (and even a bench coach right at the start of the season). Great coach Coach JW, JQ, AT in quieting the doubters and putting yourselves and the team in position for a bye heading into the MAC playoffs. Big game on Friday!

In Mballa we trust.

Seeds after 2-18-22:

Fair points. But you don’t address the elephant in the room. We do not have any natural shooters. Johnson got some nice wide open 3s that you must knock down. But way too many forced and rushed shots. Terrible decisions by both Graves and Johnson driving into lane forcing shots into defenders and taking rushed shots. Both have to be able to see teammates for kick outs when they drive rather than come hell or high water getting to hoop and taking shot regardless of how many defenders are on them. I’m about getting better. And these are recurring themes. If you have a lousy defensive team then some of that works. But when you play better teams it is a problem.

Do you ever have anything positive to say? The game is 40 minutes. Ball State played some super defense early, then seemed to run out of gas (and got a few in foul trouble), combined with some changes on defense by UB slowing down #11 (while allowing #5 to have a few openings in the 2nd). The team is now 8-5, currently in 4th with a really big game on Friday after two double digit wins in a row. Give credit where credit is due. Yep, it was ugly early, but the team kept their composure and took care of business and really played a great final 25-28 minutes.

This team started so badly. To see where they are now is a tribute to the coaching. I was freaking out at first, but these guys are peaking at a good time.

Someone recently tried to say the team wasn’t young. Lol

Just want to say the defense has come a long way since the beginning of the season

Battle alley oop to Bortz, to tie the game during a comeback victory during the first game televised by espn:

Exactly. Every team is going to lose in this league. They're all too tightly bunched to think otherwise. Luckily, the team has put itself in position to take care of it's own business after it's recent run of wins. Friday is going to be a war, both teams want it and could use it. Hopefully we can finish with one more point than them in the end!

And out of the gate this season he did not display this aptitude. Thinking back on the first few games he looked terrible when he had the ball in his hands in the open court like he had no idea what to do with it. It even looked like he didn't want the ball at all and was looking to pass as quick as possible. I think I recall him even dribbling off his feet a few times. But to see his confidence flying high now and ability to take it end to end - the dude is a work horse and will only continue to get better. In the first half last night against Ball St he had a play I'm so sorry he wasn't able to finish. Brought the ball up on a break, picked up speed as he hit the 3 pt line and drove right at 2 Ball St defenders with authority. If he didn't get fouled right before the rim he was going to bring the entire basket down with that dunk. He so deserved that moment. His ability to be patient, stay home and let the play come to him and defend the post is the top reason we've been able to stay ahead in these tight MAC games. MAC teams should be scared of this dude. He's going to be a force.

I agree with everything you said, one thing that has surprised me is his competence on the fast break. If he steals the ball he can dribble end to end, take two steps from the three point line, and still finish gracefully.

Love seeing the defense step up like they did tonight.

<3

Some key stats: 0.82 points per possession for Ball State 16-21 free throw shooting Only 8 turnovers 19 offensive rebounds. All signs to me that they played with tenacity and enthusiasm. Someone mentioned the poor shooting..this is a fair point and an area to improve...but you have to like what they have done defensively as of late.

Yes, the Bulls are still horrific from 3 - airballs with no defender near the shooter! But they did a lot of great things tonight as others have already posted. Let me add this: Mballa was like a man possessed out there! His energy level was unbelievable. It seemed in the second half that every time one of Ball State’s men were out at the top trying to drive, Mballa would leave his man, double the guy with the ball, then sprint back low to pick up his man again. Relentless. Add that to the boards, the blocks, the ferocity he brings was contagious. Go Bulls!

Great minds...You said it better!

In my opinion this is a game that the Bulls would have lost last month. They stepped up the defense to whether poor first half shooting and then shot better and continued the D. This team is showing some growth over past few games. Keep it going against Kent St.

Jeenathan is only a sophomore

Josh mballa is a sophomore

Johnson is starting to live up to the hype about him being one of the better shooters to play for UB.

Surprising, I thought you were Scherrer.

Defense! Defense! Defense!!!

Live by the 3, die by the 3.