Cardinals Primed for Late MAC Quarterfinal Thursday versus 3 Seed Bowling Green

Game 33
MAC Tournament Quarterfinals
(11) Ball State (16-16) vs. (3) Bowling Green (20-11)
Thursday, March 14 (Approx. 9 p.m.)
Cleveland, Ohio (Quicken Loans Arena)
Watch: ESPN+ | Listen: 96.7/104.9 | Live Stats

Setting the Stage
• Ball State meets No. 3 seed Bowling Green in the last MAC Tournament quarterfinal game Thursday. It is the second game of the evening session and will tip 30 minutes after the conclusion of the 6:30 game between No. 2 seed Toledo and No. 7 seed Northern Illinois. The winners of the two evening games will meet in Friday's second semifinal.

• The 11th-seeded Cardinals reached Cleveland with a 61-43 victory at No. 6 seed Eastern Michigan in Monday's first round, avenging a loss to the Eagles six days earlier on the same court. Bowling Green earned a bye after finishing second to league regular season champion Buffalo in the East Division. The Falcons have been off since an 84-73 road loss to the Bulls in Friday's regular season finale.

About the Matchup
• Ball State faces a Bowling Green team that was in contention for the MAC regular season championship until dropping four of its last five games. The Falcons are the top rebounding team in the league, ranking fourth nationally at better than 41 boards per game and leading the league in rebounding margin (+5.3). Bowling Green features All-MAC First Team selection Justin Turner, whose 579 points (18.7 per game) are the most in the league, and All-MAC Second Team choice Demajeo Wiggins, whose 10.9 rebounding average ranks second. The Falcons finished second in the MAC East after being picked last in the preseason poll.

• Ball State and Bowling Green met just once in the regular season, back in the fourth game of league play, with the Falcons pulling out a 79-78 victory on their home court. The past four meetings have been decided by five points or fewer, including Ball State's 59-56 victory last season in Muncie on Tayler Persons' game-winning 3-pointer.

• The Cardinals and Falcons have met six times previously in the MAC Tournament, with Bowling Green having won five of them. The most recent tournament matchup came in 2015, James Whitford's second season at Ball State, with Bowling Green winning 88-75 in the first round on its home floor.

What's Trending
• Ball State outscored Eastern Michigan 38-14 in the second half of Monday night's first-round game to overcome a six-point halftime deficit for a 61-43 win. It was just the second time this season the Cardinals won after trailing at halftime (Feb. 16 vs. Akron). It was also just the third time BSU won when scoring fewer than 70 points.

• Eastern Michigan's 43 points Monday were 13 fewer than the previous low for a Ball State opponent this season (56, Akron). The Eagles' 29.4 percent shooting night was the worst by a MAC opponent against Ball State since the Cardinals held EMU to 27.9 percent in Muncie in 2015.

• Monday's game snapped a streak of seven straight BSU contests decided by single digits.

• Senior point guard Tayler Persons garnered All-MAC honors for the third straight season, earning a spot on the third team. Persons was a second-team choice in both 2017 and 2018. He is the first BSU player to earn all-conference honors three times since Jarrod Jones (2010-12).

Cardinals Primed for Late MAC Quarterfinal Thursday versus 3 Seed Bowling Green

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Players Mentioned

Tayler Persons