Cardinals Carrying Momentum into Diamond Head Opener with No. 22 Washington

Game 11
Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic
Ball State (6-4, 0-0 MAC) vs. No. 22 Washington (8-2, 0-0 Pac-12)
Sunday, Dec. 22 (4:30 p.m. HT/9:30 ET)
Honolulu, Hawaii (Stan Sheriff Center)
Watch: ESPN2 | Listen: 96.7/104.9 | Live Stats

Setting the Stage
• Ball State visits Hawaii for three games in four days, fresh off a 65-47 road victory over the ACC's Georgia Tech. The Cardinals will play their first-round game of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic on Sunday against their first ranked opponent of the season, No. 22 Washington. The Huskies have won six of their past seven games, falling only to a Gonzaga team that is now ranked second in both polls.

• The winner of Sunday's game will advance to meet either UTEP or tournament host Hawaii in Monday's second round. The loser will meet the other one of those teams in the consolation bracket. The final round will be played on Christmas Day, with Ball State squaring off against one of four teams from the other half of the draw: Boise State, Houston, Portland or Georgia Tech.

The Matchup
• Ball State is playing in an ESPN-organized, destination event for the second year in a row. The Cardinals competed last year in the Charleston Classic, falling to No. 16 Virginia Tech and Alabama before beating Appalachian State in their final game.

• Ball State earned its second road win over an ACC team in three seasons Wednesday at Georgia Tech. The Cardinals won at No. 9 Notre Dame in December 2017 on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Tayler Persons. The win over Notre Dame is BSU's most recent over a ranked opponent. It was the first of that variety for the Cardinals since wins over No. 4 Kansas and No. 3 UCLA on consecutive days at the 2001 Maui Invitational.

• Ball State is set to face Washington for just the second time. The Huskies were the first-ever Pac-12 opponent for BSU, defeating the Cardinals 66-55 in the opening game of the 1984-85 season at the Sun Met Classic in Fresno, California. Hawaii and Georgia Tech are the only other teams in the field Ball State has ever faced. The Cardinals fell to the Rainbow Warriors in the 1996 Hawaii-Nike Festival. They defeated Georgia Tech on Wednesday in their first-ever meeting with the Yellow Jackets.

• For the second straight game, Ball State will face one of the top shot blocking teams in the country. Georgia Tech ranked fourth nationally at 6.8 per game and got five of them against BSU. Washington ranks 10th at 6.3 per game. The only losses for the defending Pac-12 regular season champions came to No. 9 Gonzaga and to Tennessee on a neutral floor. UW defeated a Baylor team that is now 10th in the AP poll and heads to Hawaii off an 81-59 win over Seattle. Freshman forward Isaiah Stewart leads UW at 18.0 points and 8.4 rebounds per game.

What's Trending
• BSU has built massive leads in each of its past two outings. The Cardinals led by as many as 30 points late in the second half against Georgia Tech after routing IUPUI by 48 points in the previous game.

• Ball State held Georgia Tech to a season-worst 33.3 percent from the floor and season-low 47 points Wednesday. The Cardinals climbed to 20th in the country in field goal percentage defense (37.6 percent) and 22nd in scoring defense (59.3 ppg).

• Redshirt freshman Jarron Coleman has started the past two games at point guard, averaging 17.5 points on 14-of-18 (.778) from the floor and 6-of-8 (.750) from 3-point range. He led the Cardinals with a career-high 20 points in the win over IUPUI and with 17 in the victory at Georgia Tech.

• Fifth-year senior guard K.J. Walton returned to action at Georgia Tech, scoring six points and grabbing four rebounds in 14 minutes. BSU's second-leading returning scorer (13.0 ppg last year) missed the previous four games with an ankle injury sustained late against Northern Kentucky.

• Ball State's 10 3-pointers against Georgia Tech marked the fifth time the team has hit double-figure treys in game this season. The Cardinals reached that mark only five times all of last season.

Cardinals Carrying Momentum into Diamond Head Opener with No. 22 Washington

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Players Mentioned

Jarron Coleman

Tayler Persons

K.J. Walton