Coming into the game, the Ball State Cardinals were undefeated and getting noticed with a top 25 vote. Central Michigan was one of the favorites coming into the season and even though they were on a losing skid, there were no alarm bells going off. Their place in the conference race was assured.
Even though the Cardinals were shooting well on the season, they started this game on their home floor ice cold. They left no shot unmissed, bricking threes and layups alike. However, they hustled and kept the game close.
By the third quarter, all that hard work that wasn’t paying off started to wear on the Cardinals as they just couldn’t get the ball into the bucket.