Cardinals Welcome Both MAC Leaders This Week, Starting Tuesday with Red-Hot NIU

Game 24
Ball State (13-10, 6-4 MAC) vs. Northern Illinois (15-9, 8-3 MAC)
Tuesday, Feb. 11 (7 p.m. ET)
Muncie, Ind. (Worthen Arena)
Watch: ESPN+ | Listen: 96.7/104.9 | Live Stats | Tickets

Setting the Stage
• Ball State will host both MAC division leaders this week at Worthen Arena, starting with Tuesday's tilt against West frontrunner Northern Illinois. Bowling Green, which leads the East Division and the overall league race, comes to town Saturday. The Cardinals have played six of their past eight games on the road and will now play five of their next seven at home where they are 4-0 in conference play.

• Northern Illinois is the only remaining MAC team Ball State has not yet seen this season. The Huskies are the hottest team in the MAC, having won six in a row. Last week, NIU won at Toledo and defeated Kent State at home. Ball State is coming off a 68-64 setback to a hot-shooting Western Michigan team Saturday on the road. The Cardinals had won two in a row before that.

The Matchup
• Tuesday's meeting is the first of two in the season's final month between Ball State and Northern Illinois. The teams will close the regular season against each other March 6 in DeKalb, Illinois.

• Ball State and Northern Illinois have split 10 meetings evenly over the past five seasons. Each team won on the other's home court last year, with the Cardinals edging NIU 72-71 in DeKalb and the Huskies returning the favor with a 64-57 win in Muncie.

• Ball State's Tahjai Teague averaged 14.5 points and 10.5 rebounds per game in last season's two meetings with NIU. He has scored at least 13 points in each of the past four contests against the Huskies.

• Tuesday's matchup pits the MAC's top two scoring defenses in league play. The Cardinals are allowing 62.8 points per game, while the Huskies are surrendering 63.3. NIU is holding opponents to 38.7 percent shooting in conference play, the best of any MAC team.

• Northern Illinois features the MAC's top scorer in senior guard Eugene German at 20.1 points per game. He is the only NIU player averaging double figures. German, who recently surpassed 2,000 points for his career, ranks ninth among active D-I players in scoring.

What's Trending
• Ball State's conference opponents were shooting 40.1 percent from the floor entering Saturday's game at Western Michigan. The Broncos managed to shoot 61.9 percent (26-of-42), becoming the first BSU opponent since Ohio in 2015 (61.7 percent) to crack the 60 percent mark.

• Ball State's 12 3-pointers as a team at Western Michigan were the most the Cardinals have made in a MAC game this season.

• Freshman guard Luke Bumbalough snapped out of a shooting slump at Western Michigan, hitting 5-of-8 from 3-point range. He had been 1-of-15 over the previous three games. Bumbalough has made at least four 3-pointers in a game five games this year.

• Redshirt freshman Jarron Coleman has scored double figures in the past five games and ranks second on the team at 11.6 points per game during that stretch. During conference play, Coleman ranks second on the team at 5.0 rebounds per game from his point guard position.

• Tahjai Teague has moved into fifth place on Ball State's career rebounding chart with 892. Next up on the list is former teammate Trey Moses at 905. Teague also needs 21 more points to crack the top 10 on BSU's all-time list. He also ranks third in blocks (124) and seventh in steals (151) in program history.

Cardinals Welcome Both MAC Leaders This Week, Starting Tuesday with Red-Hot NIU

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Players Mentioned

Luke Bumbalough

Jarron Coleman

Trey Moses

Tahjai Teague