Men’s Hoops Returns to Action Tuesday against North Florida

Tuesday, December 19

Muncie, Ind.

7:00 PM ET

Ball State University

North Florida

Photo by: Justin Casterline

Men’s Hoops Returns to Action Tuesday against North Florida

December 18, 2017 | Men's Basketball

Game Notes

Cardinals back from finals week break, riding five-game winning streak

Game 11
Ball State (6-4, 0-0 MAC) vs. North Florida (5-8, 0-0 Atlantic Sun)
Tuesday, Dec. 19 (7 p.m.)
Muncie, Ind. (Worthen Arena)
Watch (ESPN3) | Listen (WLBC) | Live Stats

About the Cardinals
• Ball State returns to action for the first time in 10 days to continue its six-game home stand against North Florida. The teams met last year in Jacksonville with the Cardinals winning 73-68.

• The Cardinals are riding a five-game winning streak, including a pair of thrilling wins over top-100 teams in their two most recent games. Junior point guard Tayler Persons hit game-winning 3-pointers with 1.7 seconds left against No. 8 Notre Dame and 3.3 seconds remaining against Valparaiso to lift BSU to wins against both.

• Persons averaged 23.5 points per game over those two contests on his way to a variety of honors, including Mid-American Conference West Division Player of the Week, NBC Sports Player of the Week, CollegeInsider.com Lou Henson Player of the Week and College Sports Madness High-Major Player of the Week.

• Ball State checks in at No. 79 in the NCAA RPI. The Cardinals are No. 118 in the Ken Pomeroy ratings, as the highest-rated team from the MAC (Buffalo is next at No. 126).

• Tuesday's game pits teams who have faced two of the nation's most difficult schedules. KenPom rates Ball State's schedule 16th in the country and North Florida's eighth. The Cardinals have faced six teams currently rated among the top 125.

• Ball State has had success early this season despite not shooting to its potential from 3-point range. The Cardinals rank 11th in the MAC at 33.6 percent from beyond the arc. Ball State shot 37.9 percent from deep last year and returns four of its top five shooters in terms of 3-point makes from that roster.

Scouting North Florida
• North Florida had a four-game winning streak snapped Saturday with an 85-51 loss at Missouri.
• It was the Ospreys' fifth game this season against a power conference opponent (Michigan State, Michigan, Florida and Miami [Fla.] are the others).
• The Ospreys feature five players averaging at least 9.5 points per game, led by sophomore guard Ivan Gandia-Rosa at 15.5.
• North Florida has played one other MAC opponent this year, defeating Eastern Michigan 84-81 in overtime at home.
• The Ospreys reached the championship game of the Atlantic Sun Tournament last season, finishing the year 15-19 overall and 8-6 in the league.
• UNF is in its ninth season under head coach Matthew Driscoll, who led the program to the NCAA tournament in 2015 and the NIT in 2016.

Inside the Winning Streak
• After getting off to a 1-4 start, Ball State has won five straight games.
• The Cardinals are shooting 51.6 percent from the floor during the winning streak and 62.7 percent inside the arc.
• BSU is outrebounding opponents by an average of 36.4 to 30.4 over the five games.
• Four Cardinals are averaging double-figure scoring during the stretch: Tayler Persons (17.4), Tahjai Teague (12.0), Sean Sellers (10.6) and Kyle Mallers (10.2).