Ball State University Athletics
Men?s Hoops Visits Bowling Green Saturday on ESPN3
January 16, 2015 | Men's Basketball
Ball State at Bowling Green
Saturday, Jan. 17; 4 p.m.
Stroh Center (Bowling Green, Ohio)
TV: Buckeye Cable Sports Network/ESPN3
Radio: 104.1 WLBC
The Ball State men's basketball team had little time to dwell on Wednesday's heartbreaking double-overtime loss at Western Michigan.
The Cardinals faced a short turnaround as they prepared for another Mid-American Conference road game, this time traveling to face Bowling Green on Saturday.
The matchup provides a meeting of two teams looking to bounce back after both had a four-game winning streak snapped Wednesday with their first conference loss.
Bowling Green (10-4, 2-1 MAC) is coming off a loss to Akron but returns to the Stroh Center, where it is 6-1 this season. Ball State (7-7, 2-1 MAC) improbably forced overtime with a five-point final possession at Western Michigan and then improbably lost in double OT on a tip-in when virtually everyone on the floor though the clock had expired.
One of many bright spots in recent games for Ball State has been the reemergence of Zavier Turner's shooting touch. The sophomore point guard has scored 42 points and knocked down 9 of 14 from 3-point range over the past two games after suffering through the longest slump of his young career.
He has been part of a balanced offensive attack that has seen five Cardinals score in double figures in each of the past two games. Meanwhile, Matt Kamieniecki has been dominating the glass to the tune of a league-best 12.3 rebounds per game in MAC play.
Ball State will face the top scoring defense in the conference Saturday at Bowling Green. The Falcons are limiting opponents to 58.9 points per game, ranking 24th in the country.
The teams have met 77 times previously with Bowling Green holding a 43-34 lead. Ball State will be looking to snap a four-game Falcon winning streak in the series, including a narrow 66-64 win by BG last season in Muncie.
Inside the Numbers
• Ball State currently checks in at No. 190 in the Ken Pomeroy ratings.
• Only once in the past decade have the Cardinals finished a season with a better Pomeroy ranking than they currently have (166 in 2010-11).
• Pomeroy rates the Mid-American Conference as the 11th-best conference in the country. The last time the league finished a season rated that highly was 2004-05 (11th).
Quality Wins/Losses
• Ball State's two MAC wins came against teams who were rated in the RPI top 100 at the time -- Eastern Michigan (89) and Central Michigan (88).
• The Cardinals' seven losses this season have come against teams that own a combined record of 81-40 (.669). Three of those losses are to teams currently in the top 75 of the Pomeroy rankings -- Utah (14-2, No. 5), San Diego State (13-4, No. 32) and Valparaiso (16-3, No. 73).
