2013–14 Ball State Cardinals men's basketball team

The 2013–14 Ball State Cardinals men's basketball team represented Ball State University during the 2013–14 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Cardinals, led by first year head coach James Whitford, played their home games at the John E. Worthen Arena as members of the West Division of the Mid-American Conference. They finished the season 5–25, 2–16 in MAC play to finish in last place in the West Division. They lost in the first round of the MAC tournament to Ohio.

2013–14 Ball State Cardinals men's basketball
Conference	Mid-American Conference
Division	West Division
Record	5–25 (2–16 MAC)
Head coach	James Whitford (1st season)
Assistant coaches	Brett Nelson Billy Wright Jason Grunkemeyer
Home arena	John E. Worthen Arena

2013–14 Mid-American Conference men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
East
Buffalo	13	–	5		.722			19	–	10		.655
Akron	12	–	6		.667			21	–	13		.618
Ohio	11	–	7		.611			25	–	12		.676
Miami	8	–	10		.444			13	–	18		.419
Kent State	7	–	11		.389			16	–	16		.500
Bowling Green	6	–	12		.333			12	–	20		.375
West
Toledo	14	–	4		.778			27	–	7		.794
Western Michigan †	14	–	4		.778			23	–	10		.697
Eastern Michigan	10	–	8		.556			22	–	15		.595
Northern Illinois	8	–	10		.444			15	–	17		.469
Central Michigan	3	–	15		.167			10	–	21		.323
Ball State	2	–	16		.111			5	–	25		.167
† 2014 MAC tournament winner

Season

Preseason

On April 10, 2013, Ball State announced James Whitford as the 19th head coach in program history. Whitford had previously worked under Sean Miller as an assistant coach at Xavier and Arizona. On April 19, Whitford announced the first hiring of an assistant coach by hiring Brett Nelson. Nelson, a former honorable mention All-American at Florida, had previous assistant coaching experience at Marshall, Arkansas, and Drake. Jason Grunkemeyer was hired as the second assistant coach to Whitford's staff on April 26. Grunkemeyer, a former player at conference foe Miami, joined the staff after several years as an assistant at Saint Louis. On May 3, Whitford filled out his staff by hiring Billy Wright as his final assistant coach. Wright was previously the associate head coach at Western Illinois.

Whitford announced the team's conference schedule on September 3, 2013. Ball State schedule home-and-home series with Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois, Toledo, Western Michigan, Akron, and Buffalo, while hosting Miami and Bowling Green and visiting Kent State and Ohio. The non-conference schedule was released on September 24, 2013. Road trips to Utah and Marquette, along with hosting Butler highlighted the non-league slate.

November

The Cardinals traveled to Terre Haute, Indiana on November 9 to open their season against the Indiana State Sycamores. Despite a solid game from Zavier Turner (17 points), the Cardinals fell in James Whitford's debut, 73–82.

Roster

2013–14 Ball State Cardinals men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown G 0 Kameran Madison (W) 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Jr Bowman Academy Purdue Calumet Gary, IN G 1 Zavier Turner 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Fr Pike HS Indianapolis, IN F 2 Matt Kamieniecki 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 238 lb (108 kg) Sr Clarkston HS Clarkston, MI G 3 Quinten Payne 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Fr St. Charles North HS St. Charles, IL G 4 Kindon "KD" Crowder (W) 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Sr Munster HS Chicago, IL F 5 Rocco Belcaster 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 201 lb (91 kg) So Morton HS Berwyn, IL G 11 Kaleb Mallory (W) 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) 140 lb (64 kg) Fr Muncie Central HS Muncie, IN F 12 Bo Calhoun 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 228 lb (103 kg) So Washington HS South Bend, IN G 13 Mark Alstork 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Fr Thurgood Marshall HS Dayton, OH G 14 Chase Brogna 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) 181 lb (82 kg) So St. Thomas HS Houston, TX F 15 Franko House 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 245 lb (111 kg) Fr Concord HS Elkhart, IN F 20 Chris Bond 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Sr Bowman Academy Gary, IN G 32 Jesse Berry 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 192 lb (87 kg) Sr Jefferson HS Lafayette, IN F 34 Tyler Koch 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 229 lb (104 kg) Sr Winchester HS Wright State Winchester, IN C 44 Mading Thok 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 200 lb (91 kg) RS Fr Western Christian HS Boyden, IA F 55 Majok Majok 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 245 lb (111 kg) Sr Northfield Mount Hermon School Midland College Perth, Australia	Head coach James Whitford (Wisconsin) Assistant coach(es) Brett Nelson (Florida) Jason Grunkemeyer (Bradley) Billy Wright (Miami (OH)) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt

Schedule and results

Source: [1]

Date time, TV	Opponent	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Exhibition
11/4/2013* 7:00 pm	Marian	W 62–59	0–0	John E. Worthen Arena (1,584) Muncie, IN
Non-conference games
11/9/2013* 1:05 pm	at Indiana State	L 73–82	0–1	Hulman Center (7,221) Terre Haute, IN
11/12/2013* 7:00 pm	Taylor	W 73–53	1–1	John E. Worthen Arena (2,922) Muncie, IN
11/18/2013* 7:00 pm	SE Missouri State	W 87–83	2–1	John E. Worthen Arena (2,765) Muncie, IN
11/23/2013* 2:00 pm	Butler	L 58–59	2–2	John E. Worthen Arena (6,015) Muncie, IN
11/27/2013* 9:00 pm, P12N	at Utah	L 69–88	2–3	Jon M. Huntsman Center (8,761) Salt Lake City, UT
11/30/2013* 7:00 pm	at Cleveland State	L 55–78	2–4	Wolstein Center (1,991) Cleveland, OH
12/4/2013* 7:00 pm, Sports Link	Valparaiso	L 50–69	2–5	John E. Worthen Arena (2,953) Muncie, IN
12/17/2013* 8:00 pm, FS1	at Marquette	L 53–91	2–6	BMO Harris Bradley Center (13,668) Milwaukee, WI
12/21/2013* 8:00 pm	at Southern Illinois	L 58–66	2–7	SIU Arena (4,223) Carbondale, IL
12/30/2013* 8:00 pm	at James Madison	L 68–73	2–8	JMU Convocation Center (3,172) Harrisonburg, VA
1/3/2014* 7:00 pm	Oakland City	W 94–58	3–8	John E. Worthen Arena (2,487) Muncie, IN
Conference games
1/8/2014 7:00 pm	Akron	L 68–72	3–9 (0–1)	John E. Worthen Arena (2,606) Muncie, IN
1/11/2014 7:00 pm	at Kent State	L 74–86	3–10 (0–2)	MAC Center (3,764) Kent, OH
1/15/2014 8:00 pm, TWCS	at Ohio	L 51–71	3–11 (0–3)	Convocation Center (5,942) Athens, OH
1/18/2014 2:00 pm, Ball State Sports Net	Miami (OH)	L 52–64	3–12 (0–4)	John E. Worthen Arena (3,054) Muncie, IN
1/23/2014 8:00 pm, TWCS	Buffalo	W 71–68	4–12 (1–4)	John E. Worthen Arena (3,072) Muncie, IN
1/26/2014 2:00 pm, Ball State Sports Net	at Western Michigan	L 53–62	4–13 (1–5)	University Arena (2,698) Kalamazoo, MI
1/29/2014 7:00 pm	at Akron	L 46–73	4–14 (1–6)	James A. Rhodes Arena (3,211) Akron, OH
2/1/2014 2:00 pm	Northern Illinois	L 65–67 OT	4–15 (1–7)	John E. Worthen Arena (2,786) Muncie, IN
2/5/2014 7:00 pm	at Buffalo	L 48–69	4–16 (1–8)	Alumni Arena (2,558) Amherst, NY
2/8/2014 2:00 pm	Toledo	L 73–80	4–17 (1–9)	John E. Worthen Arena (2,722) Muncie, IN
2/12/2014 7:00 pm	Eastern Michigan	L 62–73	4–18 (1–10)	John E. Worthen Arena (2,411) Muncie, IN
2/15/2014 4:00 pm, Sports Link	Bowling Green	L 64–66	4–19 (1–11)	John E. Worthen Arena (3,414) Muncie, IN
2/19/2014 7:00 pm, Ball State Sports Net	at Central Michigan	L 95–101 3OT	4–20 (1–12)	McGuirk Arena (1,673) Mount Pleasant, MI
2/23/2014 6:00 pm, TWCS	at Toledo	L 74–85	4–21 (1–13)	Savage Arena (4,912) Toledo, OH
2/26/2014 7:00 pm, TWCS	Western Michigan	L 81–88 OT	4–22 (1–14)	John E. Worthen Arena (2,590) Muncie, IN
3/1/2014 2:00 pm	Central Michigan	W 74–71	5–22 (2–14)	John E. Worthen Arena (3,125) Muncie, IN
3/4/2014 7:00 pm, Ball State Sports Net	at Eastern Michigan	L 58–72	5–23 (2–15)	Convocation Center (903) Ypsilanti, MI
3/8/2014 4:30 pm	at Northern Illinois	L 56–70	5–24 (2–16)	Convocation Center (2,144) DeKalb, IL
2014 MAC tournament
3/10/2014 7:00 pm	at Ohio First round	L 64–76	5–25	Convocation Center (4,153) Athens, OH
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern.