Cardinals Looking to Continue Divisional Success against Western Michigan

Game 24
Ball State (12-11, 3-7 MAC) vs. Western Michigan (6-16, 0-9 MAC)
Saturday, Feb. 9 (2 p.m.)
Muncie, Ind. (Worthen Arena)
Watch: ESPN+ | Listen: 96.7/104.9 | Live Stats

BSUDM Day: For every student in attendance, Ball State Athletics and Pepsi will donate $1 to Ball State Dance Marathon for Riley Children's Hospital.

Setting the Stage
• Ball State will play four of its next five games at home, starting with Saturday's matchup against MAC West Division rival Western Michigan. BSU is looking for its first home victory in conference play. The Cardinals are coming off a 72-71 win at Northern Illinois for their third win in four tries against the West Division this season. It snapped a four-game losing streak.

• Western Michigan is coming off an 85-72 loss to East Division leader Bowling Green and visits Muncie still in search of its first league win. The Broncos returned three starters but did lose All-MAC first teamer Thomas Wilder from last year's team that won both meetings with the Cardinals. Saturday's game is the first part of a men's and women's doubleheader at Worthen Arena.

About the Matchup
• Ball State faces a Western Michigan team that comes in riding a nine-game losing streak since the start of conference play. Michael Flowers leads the team in scoring at 16.5 points per game, while big man Seth Dugan averages 15.7 and ranks second in the league with nine double-doubles. The Broncos have been the most turnover-prone team in the conference, giving the ball away 15.3 times per game. While they have struggled to find wins, they did play a top-5 Michigan team within eight points on the road back in December.

• Saturday's meeting marks Ball State's 131st all-time with Western Michigan. When the teams get together again next month in Kalamazoo, WMU will match Indiana State atop the list of teams the Cardinals have played most often in their history with 132 meetings.

• The all-time series has been incredibly even. In fact, the teams were tied at 64 wins apiece until Western Michigan took both meetings last season.

• After playing six of its first nine league contests against the MAC East Division, Ball State returned to West Division competition with Tuesday's win at Northern Illinois. The Cardinals are now 24-10 against the West over the past four seasons and will play six of their final eight regular season games against the division.

• Ball State climbed back into the top 100 in the NCAA's NET rankings at No. 97 after Tuesday's win at Northern Illinois. The Cardinals reached a high of No. 49 in the NET earlier this year. BSU has not finished a season inside the top 100 since 2004-05 (96 in Ken Pomeroy).

What's Trending
• After suffering five losses in the final minute (by an average of 3.2 points) through its first seven MAC games, BSU got a close game to go its way Tuesday at Northern Illinois. The Cardinals won a game decided by five or fewer points for the first time this season (though they did defeat Appalachian State in overtime by a final margin of eight).

• The trio of Tayler Persons (29 points), Trey Moses (22) and Tahjai Teague (14) combined to score 65 of Ball State's 72 points in Tuesday's win at Northern Illinois. Moses and Teague both recorded double-doubles for the first time since the second game of MAC play (Moses had double-figure assists in that game).

• Ball State answered the bell in defending the MAC's top two scorers in back-to-back games. K.J. Walton drew the main defensive assignment on Jaylin Walker of Kent State and Eugene German of Northern Illinois, both of whom average better than 22 points per game. They scored 18 and 17, respectively, but shot a combined 27.2 percent from the floor -- Walker (5-for-26) and German (7-for-18).

• Despite playing just three seasons at Ball State, senior point guard Tayler Persons has cracked the top 10 in school history for points (10th, 1,399) and the top 5 for assists (5th, 408). He reached both marks in Tuesday's win over Northern Illinois.

• Senior center Trey Moses continues to move up Ball State's career rebounding chart. With seven more boards, he will pass former teammate Franko House (843) for sixth on the all-time list. He needs 46 more to pass Theron Smith (882) and crack the top 5.

Cardinals Looking to Continue Divisional Success against Western Michigan

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Players Mentioned

Franko House

Trey Moses

Tayler Persons

Tahjai Teague

K.J. Walton