Cardinals Ride Five-Game Winning Streak into Second Meeting with Evansville

Game 10
Ball State (6-3) at Evansville (4-4)
Sunday, Dec. 9 (2 p.m. CT/3 ET)
Evansville, Ind. (Ford Center)
Watch: ESPN+ | Listen: 96.7/104.9 | Live Stats

Setting the Stage
• Ball State takes its five-game winning streak into the second meeting of the season with Evansville. The Cardinals were 82-72 winners over the Purple Aces in Muncie just two weeks ago. BSU is coming off a 75-69 victory at 2018 NCAA Tournament darling Loyola Chicago. The Cardinals are 2-0 on their current road stretch and 3-0 against the Missouri Valley Conference, with their next two games also coming against the MVC.

• Evansville is 4-0 at home this year and 0-4 on the road. The Purple Aces, in their first season under former Kentucky and NBA standout Walter McCarty, are coming off an 87-77 loss at Arkansas State.

• This year's meetings are the first between the Cardinals and Purple Aces since 2008. Ball State is looking for just its third win at Evansville, though the Cardinals have played there only once since 1971 (2008).

What's Trending
• Ball State's win Wednesday at Loyola Chicago came one year to the day after the Cardinals won at No. 9 Notre Dame on a 3-pointer from Tayler Persons in the final seconds. Sunday's game at Evansville comes exactly one year after Persons did it again, hitting a buzzer-beating 3 from the same spot to defeat Valparaiso at home.

• Ball State's strength of schedule ranks 25th among the 353 NCAA Division I teams according to Ken Pomeroy.

• Ball State is 3-0 against the Missouri Valley Conference this season with wins over Indiana State, Evansville and Loyola Chicago. The Cardinals will play their next two games against the MVC, with road trips to Evansville and Valparaiso. KenPom rates the MAC at No. 11 among the 32 Division I leagues and the MVC at No. 12.

• Ball State is 7-1 against opponents from the state of Indiana over the past two seasons, most recently defeating IUPUI on Dec. 1. The only loss came earlier this season against a ranked Purdue squad. BSU's next two games come against in-state foes Evansville and Valparaiso.

• Ball State faces an Evansville team that features five players averaging double figures. All five of them are between 10.0 and 13.8 points per game, led by Shea Feehan. The Purple Aces average 9.0 made 3-pointers per game, second-best in the MVC.

• Ball State's two games versus Evansville this year mark the first time since 2012 the Cardinals have scheduled the same non-conference opponent twice in a season. BSU played South Dakota that year in back-to-back games, winning in Muncie and in Vermillion, South Dakota.

• Junior guard K.J. Walton matched his career high with 22 points on 11-of-14 shooting in Wednesday's win at Loyola Chicago. During the five-game winning streak, he is shooting 42-for-58 (72.4 percent) from the floor. For the season, Walton (59.1 percent, 42nd) and Tahjai Teague (64.0 percent, 22nd) rank among the top 50 nationally in field goal percentage. Ball State is 15th in the country as a team in that category at 50.4 percent.

• Senior center Trey Moses handed out a season-high five assists in the Loyola Chicago game. His 217 career assists are third-most of any non-guard in BSU history. John Williams (344) and Franko House (261) are the only ones with more.

• Sophomore forward Zach Gunn leads the Cardinals at 53.8 percent from 3-point range. Gunn is shooting 51.0 percent (26-for-51) from deep over his past 15 games, dating back to last season.

Cardinals Ride Five-Game Winning Streak into Second Meeting with Evansville

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Players Mentioned

Zach Gunn

Franko House

Trey Moses

Tayler Persons

Tahjai Teague

K.J. Walton