Ball State basketball loses more than just a game at No. 18 Buffalo

• Up next: Ball State vs. Kent State, noon Saturday at Worthen Arena

MUNCIE, Ind. — Even with Buffalo struggling to hit shots Tuesday night, the Ball State basketball team was no match for the 18th-ranked team in the country.

Ball State lost 83-59 in a game that was even more costly than the final score would indicate. Trey Moses left the game in the first half with a left knee sprain and did not return. He will be evaluated when the team returns to Muncie. Ball State head coach James Whitford said on his postgame radio show that all the ligaments appear to be OK, but it is certainly possible he could miss a few weeks.

That's a devastating blow to a team already with only nine players dressed. Ball State has three redshirts and two injured players. If Moses sits for any prolonged period, Ball State will have just eight available players. It's an unenviable situation for any team, much less one that is struggling with six losses in its last seven games.

The biggest bright spot Tuesday was unquestionably Blake Huggins, the seldom-used redshirt freshman. The 6-foot-10 center set career highs in rebounds (10) and minutes (19) while also scoring six points. He was a minus-2, which is pretty remarkable considering Ball State was minus-22 in the 21 minutes without him on the floor. It stands to reason he has earned more playing time regardless of Moses' availability. He had played a total of 40 minutes this season coming into Tuesday.

Ball State (11-10, 2-6 MAC) is reeling, and it probably wasn't going to win this game anyway, but it was certainly there for the taking in the first half. Buffalo was 1 of 18 at one point from 3-point range, though it did hit 6 of its final 13. The Bulls also were only 12 of 24 from the foul line. And yet Ball State could never really cut into the lead.

The Cardinals were just 2 of 23 from 3-point range. Inconsistent shooting continues to be an issue. It appeared that after going 10 of 17 from long range at Ohio last Saturday that maybe they had turned a corner, but it was ugly Tuesday. 

To combat Buffalo's pressure defense, Ball State resorted to putting its head down and driving to the basket. Sometimes it resulted in a basket, other times (18 to be exact) it resulted in a turnover. The Cardinals finished with just four assists. KJ Walton scored 18 points on some nice drives to the basket, but the Cardinals didn't have much else going on.

It's clear Ball State's offense is broken. It has single-digit assist totals in five of its last six games. In that span, the Cardinals have 44 assists and 96 turnovers.

Ball State will have a big advantage Saturday. Kent State's game at Western Michigan was postponed until Thursday night, meaning it will be traveling to Muncie and playing a game about 40 hours later. Can Ball State take advantage? It will definitely need Zach Gunn to play more than 14 minutes before fouling out and it will definitely need Tayler Persons to shoot better than 2 of 12.

"The key for us to get there is we are not doing a lot of little stuff as well as we were three weeks ago," Whitford said, "and I think it's a combination of a variety of reasons, but some of it is just being a little bit rattled by the way the results have gone."

Ryan O’Gara covers Ball State and East Central Indiana high schools at the Star Press. Contact him at (765) 213-5829, rogara@muncie.gannett.com or @RyanOGara.