Ball State University Athletics
Men's Basketball Travels To DePaul Saturday Night
December 10, 2010 | Men's Basketball
What's On Tap . . .
Ball State wraps up its six-game road swing Saturday evening as it travels to the Windy City to battle Big East foe DePaul ... Game time is set for 7:30 p.m. (CT) at McGrath Arena on the DePaul campus ... The game will be broadcast on 104.1 WLBC FM with Morry Mannies and David Eha providing the call .. The game will also have a video broadcast available online at www.depaulbluedemons.com for a fee.
Series History vs. DePaul . . .
Saturday's game marks the third meeting all-time between Ball State and DePaul ... The Cardinals trail the all-time series 2-0 as the two teams met in back-to-back seasons ... DePaul won the first ever meeting between the two teams February 14, 1979 with an 85-79 victory in Muncie ... The Blue Demons won their second straight in the series the following year with a 96-79 victory in Chicago January 7, 1980.
Saturday's game is the 25th contest all-time for Ball State against current Big East member institutions ... The Cardinals own a 3-21 mark against the Big East, including a 78-73 overtime loss earlier this season against St. John's ... Ball State is 1-0 against Pittsburgh, 1-1 against Louisville, 1-4 against Cincinnati, 0-1 against Connecticut, 0-1 against St. John's, 0-2 against Georgetown, 0-2 against DePaul and 0-9 against Notre Dame.
Earlier this season against St. John's, the Cardinals rallied from a 13-point second half deficit to force overtime against the Big East squad ... Freshman guard Jesse Berry led four Cardinals in double figures as he scored a career-high 18 points, including 12 in the second half as he made his first career start.
Scouting Ball State . . .
Ball State enters Saturday's game with a 4-3 overall record, including a 58-51 victory Wednesday night at Eastern Illinois ... The victory at EIU was the Cardinals' first true road win of the season ... The Cardinals are averaging 65.0 points per game this season and is allowing 62.7 points per game against ... Ball State is shooting 42.8 percent (155-of-362) from the field and 30.9 percent (29-of-94) from three-point land.
Sophomore guard Jauwan Scaife leads three Cardinals in double figures as he averages 14.4 points per game ... Scaife leads the team with 11 three-pointers and is shooting a team-high 88.2 percent (30-of-34) from the free throw line ... Junior forward Jarrod Jones is second on the team in scoring at 14.3 points per game and leads the team on the glass at 9.0 rebounds per game.
Junior guard Randy Davis rounds out the double figure scorers as he chips in 10.6 points per game ... Davis leads the team with 48 assists, while averaging a team-high 32.6 minutes per game ... Freshman guard Jesse Berry is fourth on the team in scoring at 9.4 points per game and second on the team with 10 three-pointers ... Senior forward Malik Perry is second on the team on the glass at 4.3 rebounds per game.
Scouting DePaul . . .
DePaul enters Saturday's game with a 3-5 overall record and a 3-1 mark at home in Chicago ... The Blue Demons own a 2-0 record this season against the Mid-American Conference with wins over Northern Illinois (86-84) and Central Michigan (71-62) ... DePaul is coming off of a 73-51 loss at Indiana State Wednesday.
The Blue Demons are averaging 72.8 points per game this season while allowing 74.8 points per game ... DePaul is shooting 44.0 percent (203-of-461) from the field and 23.3 percent (28-of-120) from three-point land ... The Blue Demons have forced 161 turnovers this season and have tallied 70 steals with their full court pressure.
Freshman Brandon Young leads three Blue Demons in double figures at 14.9 points per game ... Young also leads the team in assists (23) and is second in steals (12) and three-pointers (7) ... Tony Freeland is second on the team in scoring at 11.9 points per game and leads the team on the glass at 4.8 rebounds per game.
Mike Stovall rounds out the double figure scorers as he chips in 10.6 points per game ... Krys Faber is second on the team in rebounding at 4.6 boards per game while Jeremiah Kelly leads the team with 17 steals.
Protecting The Ball . . .
Ball State leads the Mid-American Conference in turnover margin and is 37th in the NCAA Division I at +3.7 ... The Cardinals also ranked 14th in the nation in turnovers per game at 10.8 ... BSU leads the MAC and is 34th in the nation in assist/turnover ratio at 1.3.
Second Half Surge . . .
The Cardinals have scored 65 more points in the second half of games this season than the first half (255-190) ... Ball State is averaging 36.43 points per second half compared to 27.14 points per first half through the first seven games ... The Cardinals are shooting 39.2 percent (71-of-181) from the field in the first half of games and boost that number to 46.0 percent (81-of-176) in the second half of games.
Jones Named All-Tournament . . .
Junior guard Jarrod Jones was named to the Great Alaska Shootout All-Tournament Team ... Jones is one of 10 members of the All-Tournament squad ... He scored in double figures in all three games of the Shootout as he averages 14.6 points per game and chipped in 7.3 rebounds per contest ... He connected on 56.8 percent (21-of-37) in the three games ... Justin Brownlee of St. John's was named the tournament Most Valuable Player.
Lending A Helping Hand . . .
Junior guard Randy Davis has tallied 48 assists so far this season in the first seven games and has only committed 22 turnovers ... His 48 assists are second in the Mid-American Conference this season while his 6.86 assists per game lead the conference ... In fact, he is ranked 10th in the NCAA Division I in assists per game ... He handed out a game-high eight assists against Eastern Illinois ... He followed that up with a nine-assist effort against Indiana State, tying his career-high ... He also tied his top mark with nine helpers against St. John's in the Great Alaska Shootout before setting a career-high with 11 assists against Southern Utah ... Most recently, he had seven assists and one turnover at EIU.
Davis is ranked 85th in the nation in assist/turnover ratio at 2.18.
Double Trouble . . .
Junior forward Jarrod Jones leads the Cardinals with four double-doubles on the season ... Jones has tallied double dips against Eastern Illinois (twice), Indiana State and Alaska-Anchorage ... He is 21st in NCAA Division I in double-doubles so far this season and is tied for Eastern Michigan's Brandon Bowdry for the lead in the Mid-American Conference ... He has posted 14 double-doubles in his career.
Junior guard Randy Davis posted his first career double-double with an 11-point, 11-assist effort against Southern Utah ... Davis becomes the first Cardinal to post a point/assist double-double since 2006 when former Cardinal Maurice Acker posted 15 points and 10 rebounds at Buffalo (1/18/06).
Cardinals In MAC Stats . . .
Ball State leads the Mid-American Conference in three team statistical categories during the first month of play ... The Cardinals leads the league in scoring defense (62.7), three-point defense (.278), turnover margin (+3.7) and assist/turnover ratio (1.31) ... Individually, the Cardinals are spread across the MAC statistical rankings.
Ball State has four players ranked in the top 30 in scoring in the MAC with sophomore guard Jauwan Scaife leading the way ranking 10th in the league (14.4) ... Junior forward Jarrod Jones is 11th (14.3), junior guard Randy Davis is 22nd (10.6) and freshman Jesse Berry is 29th (9.4) ... Berry is second in scoring among all MAC freshmen, trailing only Central Michigan's Trey Zeigler (15.6).
Davis leads the MAC in assists at 6.86 per game ... He is also fourth in the league in assist/turnover ratio (2.18), eighth in steals (1.71) and seventh in free throw percentage (.786) ... Scaife is third in the MAC in free throw percentage at .882 while Jones is second in the MAC in rebounding at 9.0 boards per game ... Berry ranks ninth in the league at the charity stripe (.783).
Last Time Out . . .
Ball State completed the season series sweep of Eastern Illinois Wednesday with a 58-51 victory in Charleston, Ill. ... The victory gave the Cardinals their first season series sweep since 2006-07 when BSU swept Northern Illinois.
Ball State trailed 35-26 at halftime before dominating the Panthers 32-16 in the second half to record their first victory of the year when trailing at halftime ... The Cardinals connected on 44.0 percent (11-of-25) from the field in the second half while limiting Eastern Illinois to just 16.1 percent (5-of-31) shooting from the field in the second frame.
Junior forward Jarrod Jones continued his dominance against EIU as he posted his fourth double-double of the season with 20 points and 13 rebounds ... Jones connected on 5-of-6 from the field in the second half to lead the Cardinals to the victory ... In three career games against the Panthers, he averages 18.7 points per game and 12.0 rebounds per contest with three double-doubles.
Sophomore Jauwan Scaife finished the night with 16 points and five rebounds as he was 6-of-12 from the field, including three of the Cardinals' four three-pointers ... Junior Randy Davis continued his strong all-around game as he scored nine points, dished out seven assists and grabbed five rebounds.
Digital Guide Available Online . . .
The 2010-11 Ball State men's basketball digital guide is available online at www.ballstatesports.com by clicking the digital guide button on the main page or the men's basketball page ... The guide was produced by the BSU athletics media relations office and 180 Communications.
Turning Up The Defense . . .
Ball State continued its defensive dominance under fourth-year head coach Billy Taylor in the first two games ... The Cardinals held Eastern Illinois to just 46 points, its lowest scoring output since posting 42 points against St. Louis last December ... The Cardinals forced the Panthers into 21 turnovers in the victory as they recorded 11 steals as a team ... Ball State turned the EIU miscues into 24 points off of turnovers.
The Cardinals forced Indiana State into 26 turnovers ... . Ball State turned the turnovers into 33 points ... The Cardinals also held the Sycamores to just 4-of-17 shooting from three-point land after ISU entered the game averaging 9.0 three-pointers a game ... Ball State forced Southern Utah into 19 turnovers in Alaska and turned those miscues into 24 points.
Most recently, the Cardinals limited Eastern Illinois to just 27.7 percent (18-of-65) shooting from the field in the second meeting between the teams ... Ball State held EIU to just 16 second half points and only five second half field goals.
Jones In Season Openers . . .
Junior foward Jarrod Jones turned in another strong performance in a season-opener as he scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds Sunday against EIU ... In his three career season-openers, Jones is averaging 18.3 points and 9.7 rebounds per game ... He is shooting 19-of-33 (.576) from the field in the three contests ... In his first career game in 2008-09 against EIU, he scored 21 points and grabbed 13 rebounds ... Last year against Valparaiso, he tallied 19 points and grabbed six rebounds.
Freshmen Debuts . . .
Freshman guard Jesse Berry opened his Ball State career in stellar fashion Sunday as he scored 15 points and grabbed six rebounds in 25 minutes off the bench ... Berry connected on 6-of-14 from the field and 3-of-9 from three-point land in the victory ... His 15 points marks the third straight season that a BSU freshman has opened their career with a double figure output, joining Jauwan Scaife last season (14 points) and Jarrod Jones (21 points) in 2008-09.
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.
BSU 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 MAC 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.
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.
Looking Ahead . . .
Ball State will take off for final exams next week and returns to action December 21 as it hosts the College of Mount St. Joseph.
