Live Game Talk MBB: Louisiana 64, Ball State 75

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[Cajunfever]

Considering this team has 4 times the NIL money, double the assistant coach budget, more fan interest, the product on the court was very similar to last year. Offensively, there is no creativity--dribble until 20 seconds on the shot clock, pass the ball around on the perimeter a few times, shoot a contested shot. Defensively, we are doubling the high screen which caused Evans to get in foul trouble. Teams will continue to do this to get our best interior player on the bench. We also allowed too much dribble penetration layups because our bigs were outside the paint. We looked lost on inbound plays under our basket--we had at least 3 turnovers--this is either poor coaching or poor execution.

[Million$Mullet]

My thoughts from game 1:

Defense will keep us in most games. The only issues I saw were when we didn’t get back in transition. If we were allowed to set up our D they really struggled to get a good look.

Our guards need to penetrate more specifically Keller. Offense seemed stagnant for the most part but I think that will come with time.

Kyran Ratliff needs to play more. Hes definitely our most seasoned big on the offensive side. I believe the staff may think he is lacking on the defensive side but that doesn’t matter when Jeremiah cant stay on the court with foul trouble.

I would like to see Mike Collins get a little more time on the floor.

I would like to see Woodson shot fake from 3 and take the ball into the lane as we need more high percentage mid range shots and not 25ft three pointers.

Jaxon Olvera can be a star. He needs to be defending the other teams worst player so he stays out of foul trouble.

Refs were not great but we didn’t lose because of them. Ball State forced them to make the calls by taking it inside. We did the opposite. I was impressed with Ball State for the most part. I think they have some good players and have a chance to make some noise in the MAC.

Overall pretty disappointing night but definitely see things that they can and will improve on. I have no doubt.