Ball State University Athletics
MBB Visits Western Michigan Wednesday on BSSN/ESPN3
January 13, 2015 | Men's Basketball
Ball State at Western Michigan
Wednesday, Jan. 14; 7 p.m.
University Arena (Kalamazoo, Mich.)
TV: Ball State Sports Network/ESPN3
Radio: 104.1 WLBC
BSSN Affiliates: WIPB – Muncie; HTSN – Indianapolis; WHME – South Bend; WISE (MyTV 33.2) – Fort Wayne; WJTS – Jasper (tape delay)
Riding a four-game winning streak and a 2-0 start to Mid-American Conference play, the Ball State men's basketball team pays a visit Wednesday to long-time rival Western Michigan.
The Cardinals (7-6, 2-0 MAC) turned some heads around the league last week when they knocked off a pair of the MAC's early-season leaders. Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan both entered their games against the Cardinals with 11 wins and RPI rankings in the 80s, and both wound up on the losing end.
Ball State hopes to ride that momentum into a rigorous week on the road. After Wednesday's game at Western Michigan, the Cardinals will visit Bowling Green on Saturday. The Falcons are the only other unbeaten team in conference play.
Western Michigan (10-5, 1-1 MAC) shared the MAC regular season title a year ago and won the conference tournament crown on the way to an NCAA tournament appearance.
The Broncos returned some key pieces from that team, including point guard Austin Richie, All-MAC first teamer David Brown, and Connar Tava, who leads WMU in points, rebounds and assists.
Western Michigan has been one of the top shooting teams in the MAC this season. For its part, Ball State saw its shooting return to its early-season form in Saturday's win over Central Michigan. The Cardinals shot better than 55 percent and knocked down 9 of 18 from beyond the arc.
Zavier Turner hit four of those 3's, all from long range, as he busted out of a shooting slump with a season-high 21 points. Jeremiah Davis scored 14 and looked comfortable in his third game back, while Franko House scored 13 to polish off an impressive stretch that earned him MAC West Division Player of the Week honors.
Ball State and Western Michigan will be meeting for the 122nd time with the Broncos holding a razor-thin 61-60 lead in the series. Indiana State (128 meetings) is the only team the Cardinals have played more often in school history.
Defense Wins
• Defense has been the key to Ball State's 2-0 conference start.
• The Cardinals are holding opponents to 35.5 percent shooting from the floor and 26.9 percent from 3-point range in league play. They rank first in the MAC in both categories.
• Ball State has held both of its league opponents below 30 percent from beyond the arc. One of those opponents, Central Michigan, entered the game as the league's top 3-point shooting team at 40.4 percent.
Kammy Being Kammy
• Senior post player Matt Kamieniecki has always been known for his tenacity attacking the glass, and he has been especially productive through the first two conference games.
• Kamieniecki grabbed 14 rebounds against Eastern Michigan and 10 against Central Michigan. His 12.0 rebounds-per-game average in conference play is the best of any MAC player.
• For the full season, Kamieniecki ranks fifth in the league at 7.8 boards per game.
