Men’s Hoops Begins Final Week of Regular Season Tuesday at Eastern Michigan

Game 30
Ball State (15-14, 6-10 MAC) at Eastern Michigan (14-15, 8-8 MAC)
Tuesday, March 5 (7 p.m.)
Ypsilanti, Mich. (Convocation Center)
Watch: ESPN+ | Listen: 96.7/104.9 | Live Stats

Setting the Stage
• Ball State begins the final week of the regular season on the road, looking to even the season series with Eastern Michigan. The Eagles defeated the Cardinals in Muncie in the second game of MAC play. EMU's Elijah Minnie forced overtime with a 3-pointer, and BSU's Austin Nehls hit a 3 of his own to force a second OT, where Eastern Michigan ultimately pulled out an 84-82 victory.

• Ball State snapped a three-game losing streak Saturday with a 60-58 win at Western Michigan. The Cardinals will return home Friday to close the regular season against Northern Illinois. Eastern Michigan has won three of its past four games, including a home victory over MAC West Division leader Toledo. The Eagles are coming off a 75-69 road win Saturday at NIU.

About the Matchup
• Ball State faces an Eastern Michigan team that leads the league in offensive rebounding at nearly 13 per game. Senior center James Thompson IV grabs more than four per game to rank 10th in the country. The Eagles are second in the MAC in steals per game with 7.4 as a team. The senior trio of Paul Jackson (14.2 ppg), Elijah Minnie (13.6) and Thompson (11.0) lead Eastern Michigan in scoring. Minnie and Thompson were both preseason All-MAC West Division selections for an EMU squad that was picked to win the division.

• Ball State has won three of its past four trips to Ypsilanti, although the Eagles handled the Cardinals 58-41 last year. BSU suffered through its worst shooting performance in five years that day, connecting on just 26.7 percent from the floor. Ball State had won five in a row over EMU before the Eagles took that matchup and the first one this year.

• Three of the past nine meetings between BSU and EMU have gone to overtime. In the matchup earlier this season, Trey Moses' 10 assists were the most ever by a Ball State center.

• Ball State enters the final week of the regular season tied with Northern Illinois for the No. 9 spot in the overall MAC standings. The Cardinals and Huskies are one game behind Miami and Akron, who are tied for seventh. Seeds 4-8 host games against seeds 9-12 in the opening round of the MAC Tournament. Eastern Michigan enters the week in the No. 6 spot.

What's Trending
• Senior center Trey Moses will match former teammates Franko House and Sean Sellers for the most games played in program history when he takes the court for the 129th time Tuesday at Eastern Michigan. Moses, who ranks second in school history for blocks (132), is also climbing the BSU career rebounding chart. With 875 career boards, he is closing in on Theron Smith (882) for fifth on the list.

• Ball State overcame a 48-30 deficit on the glass and a 20-point, 20-rebound effort from Western Michigan's Seth Dugan in Saturday's win over the Broncos. It was the first time this season the Cardinals won a game when being outrebounded. They were previously 0-11. BSU has faced its three largest rebounding deficits of the season in the past three games -- 11 versus Toledo, 12 versus Central Michigan and 18 at Western Michigan.

• The Cardinals have held five of their past six opponents to fewer than 70 points and limited three of them to fewer than 60. BSU ranks 72nd nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency for its best rating in the 18-year history of Ken Pomeroy's metrics. The Cardinals are one of four MAC teams to rate among the top 75 (Akron, Buffalo, Toledo).

• Senior point guard Tayler Persons has started all 95 games of his Ball State career after transferring from Northern Kentucky following his freshman season. Persons recorded his 100th career double-digit scoring game last week against Toledo.

Men’s Hoops Begins Final Week of Regular Season Tuesday at Eastern Michigan

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Players Mentioned

Franko House

Trey Moses

Austin Nehls

Tayler Persons

Sean Sellers