Men’s Basketball Begins Second Half of MAC Schedule Tuesday at NIU

Game 23
Ball State (11-11, 2-7 MAC) at Northern Illinois (12-10, 5-4 MAC)
Tuesday, Feb. 5 (7 p.m. CT/8 ET)
DeKalb, Ill. (NIU Convocation Center)
Watch: ESPN+ | Listen: 96.7/104.9 | Live Stats

Setting the Stage
• Ball State heads back out on the road and returns to MAC West Division competition with Tuesday's visit to Northern Illinois. The Cardinals are looking to snap a four-game losing streak, while the Huskies enter the matchup one game behind Toledo for the division lead. BSU will then return home to host Western Michigan on Saturday before catching a week off in the MAC schedule.

• Tuesday's matchup pits the top two field goal percentage teams in the league. The Cardinals and Huskies are both shooting 48.6 percent from the floor for the season. NIU also own the league's top field goal percentage defense in conference play, holding opponents to 40.6 percent from the floor. NIU's one-point win in last year's regular season finale in DeKalb snapped a three-game BSU winning streak in the series.

About the Matchup
• Ball State faces a Northern Illinois team that handed nationally ranked Buffalo just its second defeat of the season two weeks ago. The Huskies have gone 1-2 since then with losses to Akron and Toledo and a win over Ohio. NIU features the MAC's second-leading scorer in guard Eugene German at 20.2 points per game. Levi Bradley (14.8) and Dante Thorpe (14.1) also average double figures.

• It is the second straight game Ball State will face one of the MAC's top two scorers. Kent State's Jaylin Walker entered Saturday's game at BSU leading the league at 22.3 points per game. He scored 18 in Muncie, but the Cardinals held him to 5-for-26 shooting from the floor.

• Ball State and Northern Illinois split their two meetings last season, with each team winning on its home floor. Trey Moses had 23 points and 12 rebounds in BSU's victory in Muncie, while Tayler Persons scored 23 in the matchup in DeKalb. Three of the past 10 meetings have gone to overtime.

• After playing its past four games and six of its first nine league contests against the MAC East Division, Ball State will play seven of its final nine regular season games against fellow West Division opponents. The Cardinals are 23-10 against the Westover the past four seasons.

What's Trending
• Ball State played Saturday against Kent State without senior center Trey Moses (knee) in addition to Brachen Hazen (back) and Ishmael El-Amin (wrist), who have missed a combined 24 games.

• Junior guard K.J. Walton scored a career-high 26 points and hit a 3-pointer to force overtime in Saturday's loss to the Golden Flashes. Walton also scored 18 earlier in the week at Buffalo. He was 16-for-26 from the floor over the two games.

• Outside of decisive losses to Buffalo and Ohio, Ball State's other five MAC defeats have come by just 16 points combined (an average of 3.2 points). Two of those came in overtime -- at home versus Eastern Michigan and Kent State.

Men’s Basketball Begins Second Half of MAC Schedule Tuesday at NIU

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Players Mentioned

Ishmael El-Amin

Brachen Hazen

Trey Moses

Tayler Persons

K.J. Walton