Zips hoops: Three observations about Ball State game

• I’m not Nostradamus so I can’t say when, but eventually the Zips slow starts are going to come back to bite them in the arse at the most inopportune time. At one point against Ball State, late in the first half, they were shooting just 27 percent. What’s ridiculous is the way it transpired as the Zips left layups short.  Even more notable: they didn’t seem at all interested in what was happening on the court in the first half.  Perhaps they were looking ahead of the Cardinals to arch rival Kent State, but even if that’s the case, it’s inexcusable.   Coach Keith Dambrot said it’s the case of a team that’s been shooting lousy for the better part of a month.  He also added the the team lacks "juice." 
• Dambrot likes to emphasize that as Alex Abreu goes, so do the Zips.  Abreu gave a solid effort (11 points, seven assists) and hit a key three-point shot with the game winding down. It’s going to fall to him to get his teammates “juiced” as coach Dambrot called it in his post-game.   Almost everyone looked disinterested except reserve Deji Ibitayo.
• In his post-game press conference, Dambrot said that he wants center Zeke Marshall to be professional with a proviso:  “I’ve been getting on Zeke about being professional, but I want an emotional professional. I thought (Alex) Abreu the same thing; he’s out there managing things (with) no emotion. "That goes hand in hand with what I wrote above.  Now is the time they need to be kicking it up because it’s not going to get much easier from here.

Quick hit: Lastly, Chauncey Gilliam, who is just returning from minor knee surgery, left the court before the team’s post-game activities were finished, visibly upset. Here’s guessing that lack of playing time had something to do with it as he got in for just three minutes in the game.  Given the fact that Brian Walsh is reasonably healthy and Nick Harney has been playing well, Gilliam will probably have to bide his time.  Dambrot hinted that he was going to put the best players on the court.  Although the Zips as a team didn't look like it, that was a starting lineup that consisted of Marshall, Abreu, Harney, Walsh and Treadwell.