Men's Hoops Ready to Meet Kent State in Thursday Quarterfinal at 'The Q'

MAC Tournament Quarterfinals
(4) Ball State (19-12, 10-8 MAC) vs. (5) Kent State (16-16, 9-9 MAC)
Thursday, March 8 (Approx. 2:30 p.m.)
Quicken Loans Arena (Cleveland, Ohio)
Watch (ESPN3) | Listen (WLBC) | Live Stats

Note: Friday's semifinal will air on CBS Sports Network, and Saturday's championship game will air on ESPN2.

Tickets: Fans can purchase tickets by calling the Stoops Buick/GMC Ticket Center at Worthen Arena (888-BSU-TICKET) or by visiting the Quicken Loans Arena ticket portal.

About the Cardinals
• Ball State earned a first-round bye as the No. 4 seed in the MAC Tournament for the second consecutive year.

• The Cardinals will play a quarterfinal game Thursday against No. 5 seed and defending tournament champion Kent State, which advanced with a first-round victory over Northern Illinois. The winner will move on to Friday's semifinal round to meet either No. 1 seed Buffalo or No. 8 seed Central Michigan.

• Last season, the Cardinals advanced to the semifinals for the first time since 2011 before falling to top-seeded Akron.

• Ball State had two players named to the All-MAC teams released Monday, with junior point guard Tayler Persons on the second team for the second straight year and junior center Trey Moses on the third team. Persons leads the Cardinals in scoring (14.9 ppg), while Moses is the team's top rebounder (8.4 rpg).

• Ball State is one victory shy of reaching the 20-win mark in three consecutive seasons for the first time since the Cardinals had five straight 20-win campaigns from 1988-93.

• Fifth-year head coach James Whitford has guided the Cardinals to Cleveland for the second straight year. Whitford has turned the program around. After winning 12 games in his first two years combined, the Cardinals have won 61 games over the past three years.

• Senior Sean Sellers, Ball State's all-time record holder for 3-pointers (229), will match former teammate Franko House atop the school's list for career games played when he steps on the floor at the MAC Tournament. It will be his 129th appearance in a BSU uniform.

Scouting Kent State
• Kent State entered the tournament as the No. 5 seed after posting a 9-9 league record.
• The Golden Flashes reached the quarterfinals by defeating No. 12 seed Northern Illinois 61-59 in Monday's opening round on a buzzer-beating layup by Kevin Zabo.
• Junior guard Jaylin Walker, an All-MAC Third Team selection, averaged 17.0 points per game in the regular season to lead Kent State and rank fifth in the league.
• Junior center Adonis De La Rosa ranked fifth in the conference in rebounding (7.5) and field goal percentage (.563).
• Junior guard Jalen Avery led the league in assist-to-turnover ratio by a wide margin at 5.4-to-1. His closest competitor was Miami's Darrian Ringo at 2.1-to-1.
• Kent State is playing its seventh season under head coach Rob Senderoff, who guided the program to the NCAA tournament last season. The Flashes won the 2017 MAC Tournament as the No. 6 seed.

Series History
• Kent State holds a 44-39 advantage in the all-time series. The teams have played four neutral site contests in their history, splitting them evenly.
• The teams split two meetings this season, with each winning on its home floor. The Golden Flashes were 88-80 winners Jan. 23 in overtime, while the Cardinals were victorious 87-68 Feb. 9.
• Ball State's victory in the second meeting this season snapped a 15-game Kent State winning streak in the series, dating back to 2005.
• Four BSU players are averaging double-figure scoring in their careers versus the Flashes -- Tayler Persons (16.0), Tahjai Teague (14.7), Trey Moses (12.5) and Sean Sellers (11.0).
• The teams have met five times previously in the MAC Tournament, with Ball State winning three of them.
• Kent State won the most recent tournament meeting, 79-68 in the 2011 semifinals.

All-Time Tournament Meetings
1980 (Quarters) -- (5) Ball State 73, (4) Kent State 71
1989 (Finals) -- (1) Ball State 67, (2) Kent State 65
1993 (Quarters) -- (1) Ball State 78, (8) Kent State 57
2001 (Semis) -- (2) Kent State 67, (6) Ball State 55
2011 (Semis) -- (1) Kent State 79, (4) Ball State 68

Cardinals at Quicken
• This season marks the 19th year Quicken Loans Arena (formerly Gund Arena) in Cleveland will host the MAC Tournament.
• Ball State won the first tournament in Cleveland in 2000 and owns an 8-9 record in tourney games at Quicken Loans Arena.
• The Cardinals split two games at "The Q" last season, defeating Western Michigan in the quarterfinals and then falling to Akron.
• BSU has reached Cleveland two years in a row for the first time since 2008 and 2009.
All-Time in the MAC Tournament
• Ball State owns the most MAC Tournament championships in league history with seven. Ohio and Kent State both have six titles.
• The Cardinals are looking for their first league tournament crown since 2000, which is also the last time BSU reached the championship game.
• Ball State has advanced to the semifinals 21 times in its 36 tournament appearances, most recently last season.
• The Cardinals own an all-time record of 38-30 in the tournament, dating back to their first appearance in 1980.

All-MAC Honors for Persons, Moses
• Junior point guard Tayler Persons was named to the All-MAC Second Team for the second consecutive season, while junior center Trey Moses claimed a spot on the third team. Moses was an all-defensive team selection as a sophomore.
• Persons leads the Cardinals this year with 14.9 points and 4.3 assists per game. The Kokomo, Indiana, product has scored double figures in 25 games and reached 20 points in six contests. He hit game-winning 3-pointers in the final seconds to defeat Notre Dame, Valparaiso and Bowling Green.
• Moses is averaging career highs of 11.3 points and 8.4 rebounds per game this year and raised those numbers to 14.1 points and 9.3 rebounds in conference play. Moses has scored 20 points in a game four times, all in league play, including a career-best 23 points Feb. 20 against Northern Illinois.

High-Level Defense
• Ball State ranked second in the league during MAC play in both field goal percentage defense (.415) and scoring defense (73.1).
• The Cardinals held eight of their conference opponents below 40 percent shooting and allowed only two to crack the 50 percent mark.

Elite Company for Persons
• Tayler Persons enters the MAC Tournament needing 12 points and one assist to become only the fifth player in Ball State history to record 1,000 points and 300 assists in a career.
• Persons would be the first BSU player ever to score 1,000 points and hand out 300 assists over a two-year period.
• Last season, he became the first Ball State player ever to record 500 points and 150 assists in a season.
• Persons, a transfer in his second season with the Cardinals, is also seeking to become the seventh player ever to score 1,000 points in his first two seasons at Ball State.
• He has 1,380 total points, counting his freshman season at Northern Kentucky, and is set to become the 31st player to achieve 1,000 points in a BSU uniform.

Teague Finishes Strong
• Redshirt sophomore forward Tahjai Teague is averaging 16.0 points and 8.8 rebounds per game over the past 11 contests.
• Remarkably, that includes a game Feb. 3 at Eastern Michigan when he was held scoreless with just four rebounds.
• Teague had never scored 20 points in a game until this current stretch, and now he has done it five times, including a career-best 26 points Jan. 27 against Akron.

Men's Hoops Ready to Meet Kent State in Thursday Quarterfinal at 'The Q'

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Players Mentioned

Franko House

Trey Moses

Tayler Persons

Sean Sellers

Tahjai Teague