BSU Men’s Hoops Visits Early Division Leader Central Michigan Saturday

Game 18
Ball State (10-7, 1-3 MAC) at Central Michigan (14-3, 3-1 MAC)
Saturday, Jan. 19 (4:30 p.m.)
Mount Pleasant, Mich. (McGuirk Arena)
Watch: ESPN3 | Listen: 96.7/104.9 | Live Stats

Setting the Stage
• Ball State returns to MAC West Division action with a trip to Central Michigan to face a Chippewa squad that is tied for first place in the division at 3-1 in conference play. CMU's only conference loss came in overtime against a Bowling Green squad that is unbeaten in the league. Ball State also played a tight game with BG, falling 79-78 on the road to the Falcons earlier this week.

• After a MAC-opening road win at Toledo, Ball State has suffered three straight losses. Two of those defeats, however, came by a combined three points (Eastern Michigan and Bowling Green). Central Michigan is coming off a midweek victory at Northern Illinois for its eighth win in the past nine games, losing only the overtime contest at Bowling Green during that stretch.

About the Matchup
• Despite three straight losses, Ball State continues to be rated among the top 100 teams in the country by the major power ranking systems, including a high mark of No. 82 in ESPN's BPI. The Cardinals reached a high of No. 49 in the NCAA's NET rankings prior to the current losing skid. Central Michigan comes in with a high rating of No. 121 in the NET.

• Ball State is 4-3 in true road games this year, including wins over top-100 teams Loyola Chicago and Toledo. Central Michigan is 8-1 at home with its only loss coming in overtime in its last appearance at McGuirk Arena against Bowling Green.

• Ball State faces a Central Michigan team that leads the MAC and ranks seventh nationally in scoring offense at 87.1 points per game. Guards Larry Austin Jr. (17.6 ppg) and Shawn Roundtree Jr. (16.0) lead a group of five Chippewas averaging double-figure scoring. That duo also averages a combined 14 free throw attempts per game for a CMU squad that ranks second in the country with 501 trips to the foul line this season. Austin is the league leader in assists per game (5.6) and ranks second in steals per game (2.4). The Chippewas lead the league with 8.6 steals per game as a team.

What's Trending
• With one more assist, senior point guard Tayler Persons will join an exclusive club of active Division I players with 1,500 career points and 500 career assists. The only other active player in the country with those marks is Marshall's Jon Elmore (2,194 points and 679 assists). Persons enters Saturday's game with 1,686 points and 499 assists. Charlotte's Jon Davis also enters Saturday's action needing just one assist to join the club.

• Senior center Trey Moses collected his 800th career rebound Tuesday at Bowling Green. He is one of just seven players to reach 800 rebounds in a Ball State uniform and the first since Jarrod Jones in 2012.

• Ball State was averaging 15.6 assists through 15 games, but the Cardinals have recorded just 11 over the past two. The Cardinals' five assists versus Ohio and six at Bowling Green are their two lowest marks of the season.

• Junior forward Tahjai Teague leads the Cardinals with averages of 18.0 points and 8.8 rebounds per game in conference play.

BSU Men’s Hoops Visits Early Division Leader Central Michigan Saturday

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Players Mentioned

Trey Moses

Tayler Persons

Tahjai Teague