Men?s Basketball Falls To Nationally Ranked Purdue

MUNCIE, Ind. ? The Ball State men's basketball team suffered a 68-39 loss to No. 14/17 Purdue Tuesday night in front of a crowd of 8,381 at Worthen Arena. The crowd is the 21^st largest crowd to watch a men's basketball game in Ball State history and the largest crowd since December 31, 2005 (11,500 vs. Indiana).

“This was not the performance we wanted tonight as we played tentative against a very aggressive Purdue team,” head coach Billy Taylor said. “I hope tonight will show us that we need intensity no matter who we play. We were on our heels tonight and that's what I didn't want our guys to do. We are a young team so there needs to be patience. We will regroup and refocus on the tasks that lie in front of us.”

Senior forward Anthony Newell (Chicago, Ill./Simeon) led the Cardinals with 11 points as he fell just short of a double-double with a team-high eight rebounds. Freshman forward Mo Hubbard (Chantilly, Va./Westfield) added six points and five rebounds off of the bench for the Cardinals.

Ball State (4-4) shot a season-low 26.4 percent (14-of-53) from the field in the loss and just 20 percent (three-of-15) from three-point land. The Cardinals also struggled from the free throw line as they hit just 47.1 percent (eight-of-17) from the line. BSU also was forced into 21 turnovers on the night.

Purdue (7-2) picked up its second straight victory as it shot 45.9 percent (28-of-61) from the field and 38.5 percent (five-of-13) from three-point land. The Boilermakers had four players in double figures scoring with forward Robbie Hummel posting a game-high 15 points and grabbing nine rebounds.

Ball State came out of the gate and battled back-and-forth for the first five minutes as it took a 9-7 lead at the 14:20 mark. Freshman forward Jarrod Jones (Michigan City, Ind./Michigan City) hit two early baskets down low and senior guard Laron Frazier (Waukegan, Ill./Highland CC) nailed a three-pointer from the wing.

Purdue responded to the early pressure and ran off a 19-3 run, including 14 straight points at one time to take a 25-11 lead with just under six minutes remaining in the half. The Cardinals went into the locker room trailing 30-17 as Newell scored their final six points of the half.

Ball State connected on 26.1 percent (six-of-23) from the field in the first half and just 25 percent (two-of-eight) from three-point land. Purdue hit 41.4 percent (12-of-29) from the field and 25 percent (two-of-eight) from long range in the opening frame.

The two teams traded baskets to open the half before Purdue put the game out of reach with a 13-3 run to take a 45-22 lead just five minutes into the second half. The Cardinals saw the deficit grow to 31 points before running off a 10-4 run down the stretch. Junior guard Brawley Chisholm (Bronx, N.Y./Western Texas College) scored four points in the stretch while freshman guard Pierre Sneed (Chicago, Ill./Simeon) scored the first two points of his collegiate career off of free throws in his debut.

The Cardinals will continue their three-game homestand Saturday afternoon as they host Eastern Kentucky at 2 p.m. at Worthen Arena. The game will be the first broadcast of the season for the Ball State Sports Network.

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Team Stats

Anthony Newell

Laron Frazier

Mo Hubbard

Brawley Chisholm

Players Mentioned

Brawley Chisholm

Laron Frazier

Mo Hubbard

Jarrod Jones

Anthony Newell

Pierre Sneed

Players Mentioned

Brawley Chisholm

Laron Frazier

Mo Hubbard

Jarrod Jones

Anthony Newell

Pierre Sneed