Ball State University Athletics
Men's Hoops Hosts EIU Sunday In Season Opener
November 14, 2010 | Men's Basketball
2010-11 Season Opener . . .
Ball State opens the 2010-11 season Sunday, November 14 when it hosts Eastern Illinois at 3 p.m. at Worthen Arena ... The game will be the second of a women's/men's doubleheader as the women's team will host Wright State at 1 p.m.
Sunday's game will be Ball State's 90th season opener in program history and the Cardinals are 52-37 all-time in season openers ... This marks the 50th time Ball State has opened the year at home and BSU is 40-9 all-time in such games ... The Cardinals have opened the past two seasons with victories as they defeated Valparaiso 88-78 last season and Eastern Illinois 72-59 to open the 2008-09 campaign ... Last year, the Cardinals had six different players score in double figures in the opener.
Junior forward Jarrod Jones has been especially strong in his first two season openers of his career as he is averaging 20.0 points and 9.5 rebounds per game in openers ... Jones has connected on 14-of-22 (.636) from the field and 12-of-16 (.750) from the free throw line against Valpo and Eastern Illinois ... He opened his career with 21 points and 13 rebounds against EIU ... He tallied 19 points and six rebounds last season against the Crusaders.
Series History vs. Eastern Illinois . . .
Sunday's game marks the 19th meeting all-time between Ball State and Eastern Illinois and the first of two meetings this season ... The Cardinals are 14-4 all-time against the Panthers and 9-1 all-time in Muncie, including a 72-59 victory in the 2008-09 season opener ... In that game, forward Jarrod Jones burst onto the scene in impressive fashion as he scored 21 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in his first career game.
Taylor Names Team Captains . . .
Head coach Billy Taylor has named team co-captains for the 2010-11 season in senior forward Malik Perry and junior guard Randy Davis ... Perry is entering his fourth year with the program and has already played 85 games in his career, with 68 starts ... Davis took over the starting point guard position last season and made 29 starts while averaging 10.3 points per game.
Cardinals Tabbed MAC West Favorites . . .
Ball State was selected as the preseason favorite to win the Mid-American Conference West Division according to the preseason poll conducted by members of the MAC Media News Association ... The Cardinals are under the direction of fourth-year head coach Billy Taylor and are preseason favorites to claim the MAC West Division for the first time since the 2002-03 season.
The Cardinals received 124 total votes, including 12 first place votes, to out-distance second place pick Central Michigan by two votes (122, 8). In the East Division, Ohio has been selected as the preseason favorite with 128 total votes and 12 first place selections. The Bobcats have also been selected to win the 2011 MAC Tournament with 10 of 24 votes.
Ball State returns four full-time starters and five players who started at least 11 games last year. Those five players have combined to play in 285 career games and have made 223 starts at Ball State. The Cardinals also add a six-member recruiting class which includes five highly touted freshmen who are expected to contribute this year.
Jones Earns Preseason Honors . . .
Junior forward Jarrod Jones was selected as preseason All-Mid-American Conference West Division by the league's head coaches ... . Jones earned All-MAC and All-Region accolades last year as he led the team in scoring at 12.2 points per game and rebounding at 7.4 rebounds per contest ... He has led the Cardinals in scoring and rebounding since he stepped on campus after being named MAC Freshman of the Year in the 2008-09 season.
Home, Sweet Home . . .
Sunday's game marks the 273rd game all-time for the Cardinals at Worthen Arena since it opened January 15, 1992 (previously named University Arena) ... Ball State owns a 197-75 record all-time at Worthen Arena as it has won 72.4 percent of its games at home ... Last season, the Cardinals posted an 11-6 record at home, including a 6-3 mark during non-conference play ... During its career, the Cardinals have averaged over 10 wins a season at home at Worthen Arena.
Defensive Prowess . . .
Ball State was one of the top defensive teams in the Mid-American Conference last season and have been since head coach Billy Taylor took over the program ... The Cardinals led the MAC last year in scoring defense (62.4), field goal percentage defense (.400) and three-point field goal percentage defense (.312) ... Ball State was also 43rd in the nation in scoring defense, 36th in field goal defense and 43rd in three-point defense ... Two years ago, the Cardinals held opponents to just 59.7 points per game.
Returning Core . . .
Ball State returns 10 players from last season's 15-15 team, including four full-time starters and five players who started at least 11 games last year ... Leading the way for the Cardinals is junior foward Jarrod Jones who was named preseason All-Mid-American Conference by Blue Ribbon Basketball ... Jones earned All-MAC and All-Region honors last year as he led the team in scoring (12.2) and rebounding (7.4), while starting all 30 games.
Junior guard Randy Davis also returns after having a breakout year last season ... Davis finished second on the team in scoring at 10.3 points per game but finished the year averaging 16.1 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.5 assists over the final 12 games of the year as one of the most dangerous players down the stretch in the MAC.
Sophomore guard Jauwan Scaife enters his second year after earning MAC All-Freshman accolades last year ... Scaife started 29 of 30 games last season and averaged a team-high 30.3 minutes per game ... He scored 305 points as a freshman which ranked fifth all-time in BSU history for freshmen.
Senior forward Malik Perry has started at least 11 games in each of his first three seasons at BSU ... Perry averaged 7.6 points and 4.7 rebounds per game last year while making 11 starts ... Junior guard Pierre Sneed rounds out the returning starters as he made 23 starts last fall as the Cardinals top perimeter defender ... Junior forward Mo Hubbard returns after playing most of last season with an injury as he played in 28 games, with four starts.
Ball State also welcomes back junior forward Franklin Henderson, redshirt sophomore center Zach Fields, sophomore guard John Green and sophomore guard Adrian Tucker.
New Faces . . .
Ball State welcomes in a strong six-member recruiting class for the 2010-11 season, a class that includes five true freshman and one sophomore transfer ... The Cardinals welcome into the program freshmen Jesse Berry, Tyrae Robinson, Chris Bond, Jay Copeland and Matt Kamieniecki as well as sophomore transfer Tyler Koch.
Berry joins the Cardinals after a four-year career at Lafayette Jefferson High School where he set the Tippecanoe County scoring record with 1,553 points ... He was 10th in the state in scoring as a senior (23.5) and second in the state as a junior (27.3).
Robinson joins the team after playing two seasons at Bowman Academy ... He led Bowman to the Class A State championship and a 24-1 record when he was named First Team All-State ... Bond also was part of the Bowman Academy team the past two years and averaged 18.0 points and 12.0 rebounds per game as a senior.
Copeland comes to BSU after being a four-year letterwinner at King's Fork High School in Virginia ... He guided King's Fork to an 85-19 record in his career, including a Virginia AAA State championship his junior year ... He averaged 13.0 points, 11.0 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game as a senior ... Kamieniecki was a four-year letterwinner at Clarkston High School in Michigan ... He led the Wolves to a 91-12 record during his career ... He earned First Team All-State honors as a senior when he averaged 19.0 points and 13.0 rebounds per game.
Koch joins the program after transferring from Wright State ... He will have to sit out the 2010-11 season due to NCAA transfer rules ... Prior to WSU, he set the Winchester career scoring record with 1,774 points, including 22.2 points per game as a senior ... He led Winchester to the 2A State Championship as a junior and was a two-time Star Press Player of the Year.
Scouting Eastern Illinois . . .
Eastern Illinois will open the 2010-11 season Friday, Nov. 12 as it hosts South Dakota State ... The Panthers are coming off of a 19-12 season last year and were picked to finish third in the Ohio Valley Conference this year ... EIU returns its leading scorer, Tyler Laser, who was named preseason All-OVC ... Laser led the team in scoring at 13.9 points per game and hit 65 three-pointers ... Also, Jeremy Granger returns after averaging 10.3 points per game, which was good for second on the team.
Eastern Illinois posted a 99-65 victory over Illinois College in its only exhibition game of the year ... The Panthers connected on 64.4 percent (40-of-62) from the field and 56.3 percent (9-of-16) from three-point land in the victory ... Laser was one of four players in double figures in the victory as he scored a team-high 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting ... Shaun Pratl added 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting while Granger chipped in 14 points ... Taylor Jones came off the bench and hit four three-pointers to finish with 12 points.
New On The Staff. . .
Head coach Billy Taylor announced the promotion of Mitch Gilfillan to assistant coach this offseason ... Also, Ron Oliver has been hired as the new director of basketball operations while former Cardinal Mickey Hosier has joined the staff as video coordinator.
Online Video Streaming . . .
Ball State will video stream all home games this season online at www.ballstatesports.com ... Fans will need to sign-up for the Ball State All-Access package to view each game ... Additionally, all games throughout the season will be audio streamed ... Morry Mannies and David Eha will provide the call on 104.1 WLBC FM.
Great Alaska Shootout . . .
Ball State will take part in the 2010 Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout this season ... The Cardinals open play in the tournament in Anchorage Nov. 24 when they face Big East foe St. John's ... The game is slated for a 9:45 p.m. start Alaska Time, which equates to 1:45 a.m. Eastern Time start in Muncie.
Ball State will continue play Nov. 26 when it faces either Southern Utah or Drake ... The Cardinals final game of the week is Nov. 27 and will be against one of four teams in the opposite bracket -- Houston Baptist, Arizona State, Weber State and host Alaska-Anchorage.
Looking Ahead . . .
Ball State continues its brief homestand to open the 2010-11 season Wednesday afternoon as it hosts instate rival Indiana State at 7 p.m. ... The Cardinals hit the road for the first time Nov. 20 as they travel down I-69 to face Butler at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
