by MUNCIE, Ind. — The Ball State men’s basketball bench outscored Buffalo’s bench 31-3 in Tuesday’s home game.
When asked about that stat, Ball State head coach Michael Lewis answered very blatantly.
“I’m not sure what that does for us, and I’m not trying to be an asshole,” Lewis said.
That was because another opportunity for the Cardinals to climb up the Mid-American Conference (MAC) ladder was left as just that.
An opportunity.
Despite Ball State’s (8-16, 3-8 MAC) positive bench play, the Bulls (15-10, 5-7 MAC) took the 63-53 victory. It was the ninth time in the 2025-26 season that the Cardinals failed to score over 60 points.
“Buffalo doesn’t respect our ability to shoot, and they really pack [their defense] in. We won’t pass to the open guy,” Lewis said. “When we did, our passing was poor and off target. Good shots normally start with a good pass.”
The contest started competitively as Ball State jumped to a 10-9 lead. However, that was the final time the Cardinals were in front. Senior guard Juwan Maxey — who finished the game with 11 points on 4-for-12 shooting — said the reason was clear as day.
It came down to simple errors.
“We had too many defensive breakdowns,” he said.
However, despite the Cardinals’ defensive mistakes, there were some positive moments. Ball State held Buffalo junior guard Ryan Sabol — who is averaging 18.2 points per game — to just 12 points and only allowed him to hit four of his 14 shot attempts. While graduate student guard Angelo Brizzi had 17 points, the Cardinals also limited his scoring opportunities as he was just 4-for-12 from the field.
Lewis said this should have been a plus.
“If you told me that Sabol and Brizzi were going to go 8-for-26, I thought we’d have a chance to win the game ,” he said.
But it did not matter.
To help Buffalo get over that hump, senior center Tim Oboh carried the way with 20 points and eight rebounds. Lewis credited the six-foot-11-inch center, who had 22 points when the Bulls beat Ball State earlier in the season.
“[Oboh] loves to see Ball State roll in there because he’s had two career-type games against us,” Lewis said.
After the game was decided, Ball State trailed the Bulls in many categories. The Cardinals had more turnovers (13-11), fewer paint points (30-20) and a worse shooting percentage (44 percent to 35 percent).
Despite this, the Cardinals had multiple opportunities to make a run as they trailed by just four points on multiple occasions. But every time this happened, they could not get over the hump.
The Cardinals now sit in 10th place in the MAC. But the team still believes they have what it takes to make the conference tournament in Cleveland, Ohio. Maxey and redshirt sophomore guard Davion Hill — who led the Cardinals with 14 points — said the team ‘most definitely’ has the ability to turn things around.
“I think we have definitely showed glimpses of being a good team and definitely being able to play in the tournament,” Hill said. “It’s just our attention to detail, and it’s not gonna get any easier.”
Ball State will return to Worthen Arena Saturday, Feb. 14, when Kent State pays a visit to Muncie. The game will start at 2 p.m.
Lewis said he needs to see improvement in Ball State’s final seven MAC games, and much of that should involve the little things.
“The disappointing thing is that it was just our lack of attention to detail tonight. Why was that? I can’t answer that,” he said. “We did not execute very much tonight, and it really cost us because this is a game that you could have won.”
Contact Zach Carter via email at zachary.carter@bsu.edu, zachcarter039@gmail.com or via X @ZachCarter85.
