Division Leaders Clash as Men's Hoops visits Akron

Game 24
Ball State (15-8, 6-4 MAC) at Akron (19-4, 9-1 MAC)
Tuesday, Feb. 7 (6 p.m.)
Akron, Ohio (James A. Rhodes Arena)
Watch (ASN/ESPN3) | Listen (WLBC) | Live Stats

Tuesday's game will be broadcast by the American Sports Network and will air in Muncie on WHMB – channel 9 on Comcast and channel 40 on AT&T U-verse and DISH Network. It will also be available on CSN Chicago Plus.

Opening Tip
• After three straight games at home, Ball State hits the road Tuesday to visit Mid-American Conference overall leader Akron. It is the only meeting this regular season between the Cardinals and the MAC East Division's Zips.

• Tuesday's game is a matchup of league leaders. Akron leads the East Division by three games, while Ball State shares the West Division lead with Northern Illinois. The Zips won the East last season, while the Cardinals shared the West title.

• Ball State has won six of its past eight games but is coming off a 96-69 loss Friday against Buffalo. Senior forward Franko House scored a career-high 24 points to lead the Cardinals, but Buffalo avenged an earlier season loss to BSU.

• Akron suffered its first conference loss Saturday at Ohio, snapping a 12-game winning streak that dated back to before Christmas. The Zips own the second-longest active home court winning streak in the country at 28 games. Isaiah Johnson leads them at 16.5 points per game.

• Though he only took four shots in the Buffalo game, sophomore center Trey Moses made three of them to move into second place in the MAC in field goal percentage (.561). He trails only Akron's Isaiah Johnson (.638). Moses also ranks among the league leaders in rebounds (8.7, 4th) and blocks (1.0, 6th) per game.

• Ball State will close out play against the MAC East Division this week with games against Akron and Ohio. The Cardinals will then play their final six regular season games against West Division foes, including four of them on the road.

• The Cardinals picked up their 15th win last Tuesday (Jan. 31) against Toledo. It was the earliest BSU reached 15 wins in a season since the 1997-98 campaign (Jan. 29).

Super Sophs
• Ball State's statistical leaders in a majority of categories come from the sophomore class.
• Point guard Tayler Persons tops the team in scoring (16.1), assists (4.9) and steals (1.6) per game, while center Trey Moses leads the way in rebounding (8.7) and field goal percentage (.561).
• Additionally, redshirt freshman forward Tahjai Teague has the best blocks-per-game average (1.0).

Friday Night is TV Night
• Ball State will play a second consecutive Friday home game this week.
• The Cardinals will host Ohio for a 6:30 p.m. tipoff on CBS Sports Network.
• The game was originally scheduled for Saturday but was moved for TV.

Tuesday's game will serve as Akron's fourth annual 4 Pete's Sake Purple Out Game, honoring the memory of former Zips Director of Basketball Operations Dan Peters. The father of Ball State assistant coach Danny Peters, Dan passed away in 2014 after battling pancreatic cancer.

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Players Mentioned

Franko House

Trey Moses

Tayler Persons

Tahjai Teague