Men’s Hoops Starts Busy Stretch Wednesday at Oklahoma

Wednesday, November 15

Norman, Okla.

7:00 PM CT (8:00 PM ET)

Ball State University

Oklahoma

Photo by: Justin Casterline

Men’s Hoops Starts Busy Stretch Wednesday at Oklahoma

November 14, 2017 | Men's Basketball

Game Notes

Cardinals to play three games in five days, spanning four time zones

Game 2
Ball State (0-1, 0-0 MAC) at Oklahoma (1-0, 0-0 Big 12)
Wednesday, Nov. 15 (7 p.m. CT/8 ET)
Norman, Okla. (Lloyd Noble Center)
TV: FOX Sports Oklahoma + (regional)* | FOX Sports GO (access based on personal TV subscription)
Listen (WLBC) | Live Stats

*Available in Muncie to Comcast customers with subscriptions to FOX Sports Sun (channel 272) or FOX Sports Prime Ticket (283) … Satellite/U-verse subscribers with sports packages, search your FOX Sports Networks channel listings for availability … accessible on FOX Sports GO to customers with appropriate subscription level.

A Look at the Cardinals
• Ball State visits Oklahoma for the Cardinals' first ever meeting with the Sooners and their first matchup with a Big 12 Conference opponent since the 2006-07 season when they faced both Kansas and Oklahoma State.

• Ball State lost its season opener on a buzzer beater Friday at Dayton. The Cardinals overcame a 14-0 deficit at the game's start to lead by as many as seven in the second half. Tayler Persons' driving lay-in put Ball State ahead with three seconds left, but Dayton's Josh Cunningham caught a lob and laid it with 0.1 seconds left to give the Flyers a 78-77 win.

• Sophomore forward Tahjai Teague logged a double-double at Dayton with 14 points and 11 rebounds, while junior point guard Tayler Persons also scored 14 (all in the second half). Persons recorded eight assists and just one turnover. Freshman Zach Gunn joined them in double figures with 11 points in his regular season debut.

• The Cardinals are playing their fifth season under head coach James Whitford, coming off back-to-back 20-win campaigns for the first time since 1991-92 and 1992-93. BSU shared the MAC West Division title in each of the past two seasons, winning the division in consecutive years for the first time since the league implemented divisions in 1998.

• Ball State was picked to finish second in this year's MAC West Division preseason poll behind Western Michigan, and the Cardinals received the third-most votes as MAC Tournament favorite behind WMU and Buffalo. Junior point guard Tayler Persons, an All-MAC Second Team selection last season, was a preseason All-MAC West pick.

Scouting Oklahoma
• Oklahoma opened the season Sunday with a 108-89 home victory over Omaha. Six Sooners scored in double figures, led by freshman guard Trae Young with 15 points.
• The Sooners took a foreign tour to Australia in August. In seven games total (four in Australia, two exhibitions and the opener against Omaha), OU has scored 100 points six times.
• Oklahoma returns two double-figure scorers from a year ago in guards Kameron McGusty (10.9 ppg) and Rashard Odomes (10.1 ppg).
• Oklahoma reached the Final Four two seasons ago before falling to eventual national champion Villanova.
• Last year, OU ranked 334th in Ken Pomeroy's experience metric during an 11-20 (5-13 Big 12) campaign.
• Seventh-year head coach Lon Kruger returns 77 percent of his team's scoring this year and welcomes a top-25 recruiting class.

Rookies Debut
• True freshmen Zach Gunn and Ishmael El-Amin made significant impacts off the bench in the season opener at Dayton.
• El-Amin scored the Cardinals' first points of the season and finished with seven points, four rebounds and two assists in 13 minutes.
• Gunn scored 11 points and grabbed five rebounds in 16 minutes, knocking down 2-of-4 from 3-point range.

Big Bench
• Ball State went 10 players deep in the opener at Dayton with each one scoring.
• The Cardinals' bench outscored Dayton's 31-11, led by Zach Gunn's 11.

Heavy Travel Schedule
• The Cardinals will play five of their first six games away from home. The only home game during that stretch comes Friday against Stony Brook.
• Wednesday's game at Oklahoma is the first in a stretch of three games in five days for BSU. The Cardinals will return home to host Stony Brook on Friday and then travel to play Sunday at Oregon.