Cardinals Seeking Second Win over MAC West-Leading Rockets

Game 28
Ball State (14-13, 5-9 MAC) vs. Toledo (21-6, 9-5 MAC)
Tuesday, Feb. 26 (7 p.m.)
Muncie, Ind. (Worthen Arena)
Watch: ESPN+ | Listen: 96.7/104.9 | Live Stats

Setting the Stage
• Ball State hosts Mid-American Conference West Division leader Toledo for the second meeting between the teams this season. The Cardinals won the first matchup, 79-64, at Toledo in the league opener. The Rockets, who fell to Buffalo in last year's MAC Tournament championship game, hold a one-game lead over Central Michigan in their bid for a second straight division title.

• The Cardinals are coming off a 64-57 loss to CMU in a contest they led by 14 points in the second half. Toledo bounced back from consecutive losses Saturday with a 57-54 victory over Northern Illinois. Two of the Rockets' league losses have come against nationally ranked Buffalo, the only MAC team valued higher in the major power ranking systems.

About the Matchup
• Ball State faces a Toledo team that ranks among the top 100 in the nation in both scoring offense (77.7 ppg) and scoring defense (68.3 ppg). The Rockets make nearly 10 3-pointers per game, the most in the MAC, led by senior Nate Navigato who leads the league at 46.4 percent from beyond the arc. Six Toledo players average at least nine points per game, led by senior guard Jaelan Sanford at 15.5. The Rockets ranks fifth in the country in free throw shooting at 77.9 percent but attempt just more than 16 per game (306th nationally).

• Ball State has won five straight meetings with Toledo, and the Cardinals have not trailed at any point over the past four matchups. BSU has won the past three meetings in Muncie.

• Two BSU players in particular have experienced tremendous success against Toledo. In five career meetings, senior point guard Tayler Persons is averaging 22.4 points and 5.6 assists, while junior forward Tahjai Teague is averaging 15.4 points and 9.2 rebounds. Persons had 31 points and six 3's two years ago at Toledo, while Teague has recorded three straight double-doubles against the Rockets.

What's Trending
• Ball State has lost its past two games despite allowing just 69 and 64 points, respectively, against Miami and Central Michigan. Up until those two games, the Cardinals were 8-0 when holding opponents to fewer than 70 points.

• The Cardinals, among the nation's top 10 percent in field goal percentage for much of the year, have now gone three straight games without reaching the 40 percent mark. BSU also suffered through 21 turnovers, its second-most of the season, Saturday against Central Michigan.

• Sophomore guard Ishmael El-Amin made his return to the court Saturday against CMU after missing 14 games with a wrist injury. He hit a pair of 3's on his way to eight points. It marked the first time since Dec. 1 both El-Amin and Brachen Hazen were on the court for Ball State. Hazen returned from a back injury three games earlier and has averaged 8.5 points per game since coming back. The trio of Hazen (16), El-Amin (14) and Zach Gunn (5) has combined to miss a total of 35 games to injury.

• Junior forward Tahjai Teague needs just six more points to join the 1,000-point club and make Ball State one of only two teams in the country with four active 1,000-point scorers. Nevada remarkably has seven on its roster, though all of them transferred from other schools. Like Teague, Persons and Moses have both scored 1,000 points at Ball State. Teammate Austin Nehls scored more than 1,000 at Central Connecticut before joining the Cardinals as a graduate transfer.

Cardinals Seeking Second Win over MAC West-Leading Rockets

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Players Mentioned

Ishmael El-Amin

Zach Gunn

Brachen Hazen

Austin Nehls

Tayler Persons

Tahjai Teague