Ball State Looking to Crash Boards, Curb Turnovers at Western Michigan

Game 29
Ball State (14-14, 5-10 MAC) at Western Michigan (8-20, 2-13 MAC)
Saturday, March 2 (4:30 p.m.)
Kalamazoo, Mich. (University Arena)
Watch: ESPN+ | Listen: 96.7/104.9 | Live Stats

Setting the Stage
• Ball State heads back on the road, where the Cardinals are 3-4 in Mid-American Conference play, for the second meeting of the season with Western Michigan. BSU defeated the Broncos three weeks ago in Muncie, 79-59, behind a career-high 22 points from junior forward Kyle Mallers. The Cardinals will play two in a row on the road before closing out the regular season at home March 8 against Northern Illinois.

• Ball State is coming off an 80-72 setback Tuesday against MAC West Division leader Toledo and looking to snap a three-game losing streak. Western Michigan has gone 2-3 since its Feb. 9 visit to Muncie with home wins over Northern Illinois and Miami. The Broncos lost tight road games in their past two outings at Eastern Michigan in overtime and at NIU.

About the Matchup
• Ball State faces a Western Michigan team that features three players averaging double-figure scoring -- Seth Dugan (15.8), Michael Flowers (15.8) and Josh Davis (11.2). Dugan, a senior center, is averaging a near double-double in MAC play at 16.5 points and 9.7 rebounds per game. The Broncos are 5-7 at home this year, compared to 3-13 away from Kalamazoo, and have won their past two home games.

• Saturday's meeting will be Ball State's 132nd all-time against Western Michigan, as the Broncos match Indiana State atop the list of opponents the Cardinals have met most often in program history. WMU holds a razor thin 66-65 advantage in the series, which dates back to 1932.

What's Trending
• Junior forward Tahjai Teague surpassed the 1,000-point mark for his career Tuesday versus Toledo, becoming the 33rd player to score 1,000 points in a Ball State uniform. He became the fourth active BSU player to reach the mark, joining Tayler Persons, Trey Moses and graduate transfer Austin Nehls. Only Nevada (seven) has more active 1,000-point scorers, and all of them are transfers.

• Ball State has faced its two largest rebounding deficits of the season in the past two games -- 45-33 against Central Michigan and 34-23 versus Toledo. The Cardinals are 0-12 this season when they don't win the rebounding battle and 14-2 when they do.

• The Cardinals are also coming off their two highest turnover outputs in conference play with 21 against both Central Michigan and Toledo.

• Ball State rates 87th nationally in defensive efficiency, according to Ken Pomeroy. The Cardinals are one of four MAC teams to rate among the top 100 (Akron, Buffalo, Toledo). BSU held four consecutive opponents to fewer than 70 points before allowing 80 in Tuesday's loss to Toledo.

• The Cardinals shot 38.4 percent from 3-point range in non-conference play but have managed just a 29.6 percent clip within the league. Ball State has attempted only 270 3-pointers in MAC play, the fewest of any team in the league. After averaging 23.6 attempts per game from 3-point range over the past three seasons, BSU is taking 19.0 per game this year.

• Sophomore forward Zach Gunn returned to the court Tuesday and hit a pair of 3-pointers after missing five games to an ankle injury. It marked the first time since Dec. 1 that Gunn, Brachen Hazen and Ishmael El-Amin all saw action. That trio combined to miss 35 games to injury. Hazen (back) missed 16 games, and El-Amin (wrist) missed 14.

Ball State Looking to Crash Boards, Curb Turnovers at Western Michigan

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Ishmael El-Amin

Zach Gunn

Brachen Hazen

Kyle Mallers

Trey Moses

Austin Nehls

Tayler Persons

Tahjai Teague