With four straight losses, three of them to conference-leading teams, the Bulls are setting themselves up for a difficult postseason filled with many road games.
The first half Tuesday night's game versus Ball State saw four lead changes and six ties, but the Cardinals ended up with the halftime lead and continued on to a 67-60 victory over Buffalo.
Ball State's win relied heavily on the shooting of forward Julien "Skip" Mills, who scored a game-high and career best 27 points. Mills, who was also named Mid-American Conference West Division Player of the Week this past Monday, completed 10-of-16 shot attempts including 5-of-9 from beyond the arc.
Despite out-rebounding Ball State 38 to 25, Buffalo's telltale statistic that prevented them from finding a rhythm was turnovers. The men in blue and white lost the ball 29 times to Ball State's 14. Buffalo has maxed out at 29 turnovers twice this season.
"We can't come out and win a game giving up 30-plus points off of turnovers," said Bulls head coach Reggie Witherspoon. "The young men on our team have to take ownership of that concept and until they do it mentally, it's not going to happen physically."
Witherspoon went on to explain that although the Bulls have fixed some problems that have cost them games over the course of the last few weeks, the importance of turnovers shines over all else, when it comes to the win column.
"It's really an unfortunate thing," Witherspoon said. "You can have some growth in one area, but not really feel like you did anything because you turn the ball over."
The Bulls' leading scorer, senior guard Calvin Cage, had a tough night, only scoring nine points as Ball State (8-12, 4-8 MAC) continued the double-team trend of the last few games. Cage turned the ball over a team-high seven times.
The other senior guard, Roderick Middleton, had a fair game with 13 points, six rebounds, and four assists.
Junior forward Yassin Idbihi was the Bulls' star player as he put together another double-double for Buffalo with 10 rebounds and 22 points, including a pair of three-pointers and 5-of-7 shooting from the field. The big man has sunk an astonishing 10 of his last 18 three-point field goal attempts.
"Yassin showed some grit and his minutes were pretty high too," Witherspoon said. "To play 33 minutes is a lot for him but it's pretty much what he's going to have to play for the rest of the season."
Idbihi also registered four blocks and an assist.
One of the reasons that Idbihi has played so many minutes as of late is the injuries some of the larger players have sustained, such as junior guard Parnell Smith's reoccurring ankle injury. Sophomore forward Andrew Atman received a starting nod in Smith's place.
Witherspoon alluded, once again, to lack of depth on the bench, and the Bulls being forced to work outside of their comfortable rotation. Witherspoon said that the specific injuries this season hurt the range of the team and put pressure on other players filling that position.
"We had a much broader rotation of players last year," Witherspoon said. "We got back Vadim (Fedotov's) MRI and he will probably have to get his knee scoped. I mean, he only played eight minutes last time we played him, and it may not seem like a lot, but if you add eight minutes to Yassin's or Mario's minutes, it can be overwhelming."
Senior forward Mario Jordan had six turnovers and four personal fouls in his 23 minutes of play. He also added four points and six rebounds.
Freshman Ball State guard Maurice Acker showed up big for the Cardinals once again against the Bulls (15-8, 5-7 MAC), scoring 15 points on 4-for-13 shooting from the field.
There is no doubt in Witherspoon's mind that the Bulls still have a chance at making some noise in the end of the season, as they have been in this position before.
"We're very close to where we were last year in terms of games won and games lost," Witherspoon said. "However, what happens now is that teams play harder and play through fatigue. We all get tired, but how we respond to that fatigue is going to be key."
Buffalo plays its next game at 2 p.m. in Central Michigan on Saturday to try and turn around the current losing streak.
The last time the Bulls faced the Chippewas (3-17, 1-11 MAC) was at home on Jan. 21. Buffalo surprisingly fell 61-71 to Central Michigan, who at the time was winless in the MAC.
