Men's Basketball Travels To Butler Wednesday Night

November 17, 2008 | Men's Basketball

By: Ball State Athletics

What's On Tap . . .
The Cardinals hit the road for the first time in the 2008-09 season Wednesday night as they travel to Indianapolis to take on instate rival Butler ... The game is the home opener for Butler ... The Cardinals are under the direction of second-year head coach Billy Taylor while Butler is led by second-year head coach Brad Stevens ... Taylor owns an 88-93 career record while Stevens has a 30-4 tally in his career ... The game will be broadcasted at www.horizonleaguenetwork.tv by the Horizon League and will be FREE to watch (registration required).

Series History . . .
Wednesday's game marks the 100th meeting all-time between Ball State and Butler ... The Bulldogs lead the all-time series by a 62-37 margin, including victories in the last four meetings ... The Cardinals are 9-40 all-time on the road against Butler and last won at Hinkle Fieldhouse on December 7, 1996 ... This is the 60th consecutive season the two teams have met on the basketball court, dating back to the 1950-51 season ... The two teams first met on December 23, 1924 when Butler claimed a 27-13 victory at home.

Last season, Ball State suffered a 61-45 loss to Butler at Worthen Arena ... Forward Anthony Newell led the Cardinals' attack as he scored 16 points on the strength of seven-of-18 shooting from the field ... Former Cardinal Peyton Stovall added 13 points and 12 rebounds in the loss ... Butler was led by four players in double figures scoring, including a game-high 17 points from Pete Campbell.

Cardinals Victorious In Opener . . .
Ball State opened the 2008-09 season in style Saturday afternoon as it claimed a 72-59 victory over Eastern Illinois at Worthen Arena ... The Cardinals, who opened the scoring 15 seconds into the contest, never relinquished a lead which grew as large as 19 points in both the first and second halves.

Freshman forward Jarrod Jones made a grand collegiate debut as he posted a double-double against EIU ... Jones, who made his first career start, scored a game-high 21 points and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds ... He hit seven-of-11 shots from the field and seven-of-10 from the free throw line ... His double-double performance in his first career game is the first time a BSU freshman has posted a double-double in their debut in at least 10 years ... Senior forward Anthony Newell also had a strong start to the season as he scored 19 points, including 13 in the first half.

Senior guard Laron Frazier added nine points and three assists ... Classmate Brandon Lampley chipped in seven points and dished out a career-high seven assists ... Junior guard Brawley Chisholm added eight points off of the bench in his first career game with the Cardinals.

Ball State is now 39-9 all-time in season openers at home at Worthen Arena and is 14-4 all-time against Eastern Illinois.

Fast Starts . . .
The Cardinals came out of the gate quickly Saturday against Eastern Illinois as they scored 43 first half points ... The 43 points are the most for a BSU team in a single half since a 43-point effort in the second half versus Central Michigan on Jan. 13, 2008 ... In addition, the 43 points are the most in a first half for the Cardinals since the team collected 49 in the opening frame versus Western Michigan on March 5, 2005.

The Cardinals also owned a 19-point lead five different times in the victory ... The 19-point lead marks the largest lead for the Cardinals since a 19-point edge versus IPFW on Dec. 31, 2007 ... Also, the 13-point margin of victory over Eastern Illinois is the largest since a 21-point, 61-40, win over Valparaiso on Dec. 16, 2006.

Freshman Starts . . .
Head coach Billy Taylor had two true freshmen in the starting lineup in the 2008-09 season opener as forwards Jarrod Jones and Mo Hubbard got their first career starts against Eastern Illinois ... This is the second straight year that Taylor has started two true freshmen to open the season ... Last year, forward Malik Perry and guard Melvin Goins started in the season opener against Butler.

Scouting The Cardinals . . .
Ball State enters Wednesday's game with a 1-0 record on the year after its 13-point victory over Eastern Illinois ... The Cardinals posted a 34-31 advantage on the glass against EIU and also forced the Panthers into 16 turnovers ... The Cardinals are shooting 42.9 percent (24-of-56) from the field and 35 percent (seven-of-20) from three-point land.

Freshman forward Jarrod Jones leads the attack after scoring 21 points and grabbing 13 rebounds against EIU ... Senior forward Anthony Newell added 19 points and six rebounds ... The Cardinals had eight different players see time on the court Saturday and seven of the eight scored points in the balanced attack.

Scouting The Bulldogs . . .
Butler enters Wednesday's game with a 1-0 record on the year after picking up a 58-48 victory at Drake Saturday night ... The Bulldogs held Drake to just 31.3 percent shooting in the game and just 14 first half points ... Butler conversely shot 44.2 percent (23-of-52) from the field and 34.8 percent (eight-of-23) from three-point land.

Sophomore guard Zach Hahn led Butler in scoring as he tallied a career-high 13 points off of the bench ... Hahn hit three three-pointers in the victory ... Forward Matt Howard added 12 points and seven rebounds for Butler ... Freshman Gordon Hayward chipped in 11 points and seven rebounds in his collegiate debut.

Butler is coming off of a 30-4 season last year that saw the Bulldogs advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament ... Butler lost seven letterwinners from last season's team, including four starters.

817 and Counting . . .
Senior forward Anthony Newell enters the season within reach of becoming the 25th player in Ball State history to reach the 1,000-Point Club ... He enters the Butler game with 817 career points after posting 19 points in the season opener against Eastern Illinois ... He has scored in double figures 46 times in his career (46-of-74), including 19 times last year and already once this season ... He has reached 20-plus points on 10 different occasions in his career.

Cardinals Sign Two Recruits . . .
Head coach Billy Taylor and his staff announced the signings of Huzie Hambrite and Jauwan Scaife to national letters of intent Friday during the early signing period.
Hambrite, a 6-0 guard from Indianapolis, is entering his second year at Lake Land College after playing at Indianapolis Northwest High School ... He led the Lakers in scoring last season as a freshman as he averaged 16 points per game, while also leading the team in assists (101) and steals (29) ... He opened his sophomore season Wednesday with 12 points and six assists as he led Lake Land to a 93-76 victory over Parkland College.

Scaife, a 6-2 guard from Muncie, is entering his senior season at Muncie Central High School ... He averaged 14.5 points per game and 4.1 rebounds per contest as a junior ... He made 46.9 percent of his field goals, including a 46.8 percent clip from three-point land ... He was tabbed as the “Top Sleeper” in the 2008-09 Indiana senior class by the Rick Bolus High Potential Report.

Cardinals Name Captains . . .
Second-year head coach Billy Taylor has announced his 2008-09 team captains in seniors Anthony Newell, Brandon Lampley, Laron Frazier and Rob Giles ... The four players combined to play in 103 games last year, including 47 starts ... This marks the second straight season that Newell has been one of the team's captains.

Newell Preseason All-MAC . . .
Senior forward Anthony Newell was named to the preseason All-Mid-American Conference West Division team by the league head coaches and the MAC media members ... Newell, a team captain, earned Honorable Mention All-MAC honors last season despite missing nine games due to an injury ... He led the team in scoring at 16.9 points per game and in rebounding at 8.0 caroms per contest last season ... He would have finished the season tied for the MAC lead in scoring and second in rebounding if he had appeared in enough games to qualify.

Newell scored in double figures in 19 of his 21 games last season, including six games of 20-plus points ... He played in all 16 conference games for the Cardinals, averaging 16.8 points and 8.1 rebounds per game, to rank second and third in the league, respectively. ... He enters the season as the Cardinals' most experienced player have seen action in 73 career games with 42 career starts ... He enters his senior season having scored 798 career points and notching 463 career rebounds.

Walking The Stage . . .
The Cardinals have a unique situation this season as two of their four seniors, Anthony Newell and Brandon Lampley, received their bachelor degrees this summer ... Newell became the first member of his family to earn a degree as he received a bachelor of science in criminal justice ... He is working on a second bachelor degree this season ... Lampley also graduated this summer as he earned his degree in english studies ... He is working on his master's degree in secondary education this season.

Eight New Faces . . .
The Cardinals welcome in eight newcomers this season in the form of three transfers and five freshmen ... Forward Terrence Watson joins the Cardinals as a senior and will sit out this season due to NCAA transfer rules after coming to BSU from Ole Miss ... Also transferring into Ball State is junior college guard Brawley Chisholm and JUCO forward Eric Wormely.

The Cardinals' five freshmen include guard Randy Davis, guard Pierre Sneed, forward Maurice Hubbard, forward Jarrod Jones and center Zach Fields ... This five-member freshman class marks the largest class of true freshmen for the Cardinals since the 1994-95 season when Ball State also welcomed in five freshmen ... The five freshmen that season were Antwaan Jones, Ryan Reed, Charles Smith, Steve Smith and Bonzi Wells.

Brought To New Heights . . .
Last season, the Cardinals' tallest player on the team was 6-foot 5-inch forward Anthony Newell ...This season, Ball State brings a markedly taller version of the Cardinals to the court ... Ball State has four players this season that are taller than 6-5 including forward Maurice Hubbard (6-6), forward Eric Wormely (6-8), forward Jarrod Jones (6-9) and center Zach Fields (6-10) ... Newell is the fifth tallest player on the team this year.

New Faces On The Sidelines . . .
Second-year head coach Billy Taylor has a new look with him on the sidelines this season as Jay Newberry has moved from director of basketball operations to assistant coach this year ... Newberry takes over the assistant coach spot that was vacated when Jim Molinari was hired as the head coach of Western Illinois this off season.

Also, former Missouri Southern assistant coach Matt Laur has been added to the BSU staff as the director of basketball operations this season ... Both Laur and Newberry join Bob Simmons and Joseph Price on Taylor's staff.

Taylor's Defensive Prowess . . .
The trademark of a Billy Taylor led team begins on the defensive end of the court and that was no different last year in Taylor's first season at Ball State ... The Cardinals' defense finished the year fourth in the Mid-American Conference in scoring defense as it held opponents to 63.9 points per game ... The Cardinals held their opponents under 65 points in 19 of 30 games last year.
In the first game of the season, the Cardinals held Eastern Illinois to just 59 points.

BSU Picked Fifth In MAC West . . .
The Cardinals were tabbed to finish fifth in the Mid-American Conference West Division in the preseason poll conducted by league coaches and members of the MAC News Media Association ... Western Michigan was selected to capture the league's West Division title, picking up 122 points ... Eastern Michigan (122 points) was chosen second, followed by Central Michigan (79 points), Toledo (71 points), Ball State (55 points) and Northern Illinois (39 points).

Voting for the East Division saw Kent State come out on top, earning 122 points ... Miami was second with 109 points, followed by Bowling Green (70 points), Akron (67 points), Ohio (66 points) and Buffalo (35 points).

The Golden Flashes were also the favorite to win the 2009 MAC Tournament title, earning 11 votes, followed by Miami (7), Bowling Green (2) and Eastern Michigan (2).

Looking Ahead . . .
The Cardinals return home to Worthen Arena Saturday afternoon as they host SIU-Edwardsville at 2 p.m. ... Ball State hits the road next Tuesday night as it travel to Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

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