Ball State University Athletics
Men's Basketball Returns Home Tuesday Night
December 20, 2010 | Men's Basketball
What's On Tap . . .
Ball State returns home to Worthen Arena for the first time since Nov. 17 as it hosts the College of Mount St. Joseph at 7 p.m. Tuesday night ... The Cardinals enter the game with a 5-3 overall record and are coming off a 79-77 overtime victory over Big East foe DePaul ... Ball State has been off the past week due to final exams ... Mount St. Joseph enters the contest with a 2-8 overall record and is coming off a 65-61 loss to Hannover College.
Jones Earns MAC Weekly Honors . . .
Junior forward Jarrod Jones was named the Mid-American Conference West Division Player of the Week and the MAC Scholar Athlete of the Week for his performances against Eastern Illinois and DePaul ... Jones, who owns a 3.291 GPA as a telecommunications major, posted back-to-back double-doubles in the victories as he averaged 18.5 points and 12.5 rebounds per game ... He connected on 53.3 percent (16-of-30) from the field in the two victories ... He posted 20 points and 13 rebounds at EIU as he was 9-of-15 from the field ... He led the Cardinals to their first win over a Big East foe since 1990 with 17 points and 12 rebounds at DePaul ... He has posted five double-doubles in eight game this season as he averages 14.6 points and 9.4 rebounds per game.
Davis A Bob Cousy Award Candidate . . .
Junior guard Randy Davis has been named one of 66 candidates for the 2011 Bob Cousy Award the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts announced Monday ... The annual award, named for Hall of Famer and former Boston Celtic Bob Cousy, recognizes college basketball's top point guard ... This original list of candidates will be narrowed down to a final 20 by January 3, final 10 by February 3 and final five by March 3.
Davis currently is second in the Mid-American Conference and 13th in NCAA Division I in assists per game at 6.375 ... He also is third on the team in scoring at 10.1 points per game ... He has dished out at least seven assists in five games this season, including a career-high 11 assists against Southern Utah (Nov. 26).
Series History vs. Mount St. Joseph . . .
Tuesday's game marks the first ever meeting for the Cardinals against Mount St. Joseph in program history.
Last Time Out . . .
Ball State posted a 79-77 overtime victory over Big East foe DePaul last time out, marking the first win for the Cardinal over a Big East foe since March 16, 1989 when Ball State downed Pittsburgh in the NCAA Tournament (68-64) ... Freshman guard Tyrae Robinson scored the game-winning basket with a runner in the lane with 2.7 seconds left in regulation to send the Cardinals to the victory.
Ball State had seven different players score at least seven points in the overall team victory ... Junior forward Jarrod Jones recorded his fifth double-double of the season as he scored a team-high 17 points and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds ... Jones hit 7-of-15 from the field and helped the Cardinals own a 41-30 rebounding advantage.
Freshman guard Jesse Berry was second on the team in scoring at 15 points per game and sophomore guard Jauwan Scaife added 11 points in a career-high 42 minutes of play ... Senior forward Malik Perry added nine points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals in the victory.
Robinson scored a career-high nine points, dished out five assists and grabbed four rebounds ... Freshman forward Chris Bond adding a career-high nine points while grabbing four rebounds as he was 4-of-5 from the field ... The Cardinals secured 33 points in the victory from the freshmen trio of Berry, Bond and Robinson.
Scouting Ball State . . .
Ball State enters Tuesday's game with a 5-3 overall record and is coming off a 79-77 overtime victory at Big East foe DePaul ... BSU owns a 2-0 record at home this season but has not played at home since Nov. 17 ... The Cardinals are averaging 66.8 points per game this season while holding opponents to 64.5 points per game.
Junior forward Jarrod Jones leads one of four Cardinals averaging double figures as he leads the team at 14.6 points per game ... Jones also leads the team on the glass as he grabs 9.4 rebounds per game ... Sophomore guard Jauwan Scaife is second on the team in scoring at 14.0 points per game and has hit a team-high 12 three-pointers ... Scaife also leads the team in free throw shooting as he has hit 32-of-36 (88.9%).
Junior guard Randy Davis is third on the team in scoring at 10.1 points per game ... Davis leads the team in assists with 51 and in steals with 13 ... Freshman guard Jesse Berry rounds out the double figure scorers as he averages 10.1 points per game and is second on the team with 11 three-pointers ... Senior forward Malik Perry is second on the team in rebounding at 4.3 boards per game while adding 7.5 points per game.
Scouting MSJ . . .
Mount St. Joseph enters Tuesday's game with a 2-8 overall record and a 1-4 mark on the road ... The Lions have picked up wins this season over Temple Baptist and at Denison ... MSJ is averaging 72.5 points per game this season while allowing opponents to score 76.0 points per game ... The Lions have hit 88 three-pointers on the year, an average of 8.8 three-pointers per game.
Ben Haarman leads the Lions in scoring as he averages 21.7 points per game ... Haarman is shooting 35.1 percent (34-of-97) from three-point land and 83.6 percent (51-of-61) from the free throw line this season ... Alex Cole is second on the team in scoring at 9.6 points per game and leads the team on the glass at 6.6 boards per game ... David Mann is third on the team in scoring at 9.2 points per game and has hit 13 three-pointers.
Home, Sweet Home . . .
Tuesday's game marks the 275th game all-time for the Cardinals at Worthen Arena since it opened January 15, 1992 (previously named University Arena) ... Ball State owns a 199-75 record all-time at Worthen Arena as it has won 72.6 percent of its games at home ... The Cardinals have posted a 2-0 record this season at Worthen with wins over Eastern Illinois and Indiana State ... 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.
Protecting The Ball . . .
Ball State leads the Mid-American Conference in turnover margin and is 72nd in the NCAA Division I at +2.5 ... The Cardinals also ranked 32nd in the nation in turnovers per game at 11.6 ... BSU leads the MAC and is 46th in the nation in assist/turnover ratio at 1.23.
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.
Double Trouble . . .
Junior forward Jarrod Jones leads the Cardinals with five double-doubles on the season ... Jones has tallied double dips against Eastern Illinois (twice), Indiana State, Alaska-Anchorage and DePaul ... He is 20th 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 15 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).
Lending A Helping Hand . . .
Junior guard Randy Davis has tallied 51 assists so far this season in the first eight games and has only committed 29 turnovers ... His 51 assists are second in the Mid-American Conference this season ... In fact, he is ranked 13th in the NCAA Division I in assists per game at 6.4 ... 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 151st in the nation in assist/turnover ratio at 1.76.
Cardinals In MAC Stats . . .
Ball State leads the Mid-American Conference in two team statistical categories during the first month of play and is second in two categories ... The Cardinals leads the league in turnover margin (+2.5) and assist/turnover ratio (1.23) while placing second in scoring defense (64.5) and three-point defense (.290) ... Individually, the Cardinals are spread across the MAC statistical rankings.
Ball State has four players ranked in the top 25 in scoring in the MAC with junior forward Jarrod Jones leading the way ranking eighth in the league (14.6) ... Sophomore guard Jauwan Sciafe is 10th (14.0), junior guard Randy Davis is 24th (10.1) and freshman Jesse Berry is 24th (10.1) ... Berry is second in scoring among all MAC freshmen, trailing only Central Michigan's Trey Zeigler (15.4).
Davis is second in the MAC in assists at 6.38 per game ... He is also sixth in the league in assist/turnover ratio (1.76), seventh in steals (1.63) and sixth in free throw percentage (.800) ... Scaife is second in the MAC in free throw percentage at .889 while Jones is second in the MAC in rebounding at 9.4 boards per game ... Berry ranks 13th in the league at the charity stripe (.733).
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 be off for the holiday and returns to action Dec. 28 as it travels to instate foe Valparaiso for an 8 p.m. tip-off.
