Cardinals Welcome First-Place Falcons for Saturday MAC Showdown

Game 25
Ball State (14-10, 7-4 MAC) vs. Bowling Green (18-7, 9-3 MAC)
Saturday, Feb. 15 (1 p.m. ET)
Muncie, Ind. (Worthen Arena)
Watch: ESPN3 | Listen: 96.7/104.9 | Live Stats | Tickets

Setting the Stage
• After snapping MAC West Division leader Northern Illinois' six-game winning streak earlier this week, Ball State will take its shot at East Division frontrunner and overall league leader Bowling Green. The Cardinals will look to avenge a narrow road loss to the Falcons nearly three weeks ago. BSU is just a half game behind NIU in the West Division and a game and a half behind Bowling Green for the overall league lead.

• Ball State has won three of its past four games with the only loss coming in a four-point setback at Western Michigan. The Cardinals a perfect 5-0 in conference home games, winning by an average of 9.6 points per game, while Bowling Green is 4-2 away from home in league play. The Falcons were unbeaten on the road in conference play before dropping their past two road games at Central Michigan and Akron.

The Matchup
• Bowling Green has won the past three matchups in the series, two on its home floor and one in Cleveland in last season's MAC Tournament quarterfinals. Ball State won the most recent meeting in Muncie in February 2018 when Tayler Persons' 3-pointer with 1.3 seconds remaining lifted the Cardinals over the Falcons, 59-56.

• Tahjai Teague had 18 points and 11 rebounds for one of his five MAC double-doubles in the first meeting between the teams this season in Bowling Green. But Trey Diggs scored a game-high 25 points off the bench for the Falcons, and Justin Turner scored 16 of his 20 in the final 5:30 to lead at late Bowling Green surge for the win.

• For the second straight game, Ball State will be tasked with defending one of the top offensive players in the MAC. On Tuesday night, Northern Illinois guard Eugene German -- the top scorer in the MAC -- needed 20 shots from the floor to score 18 points. On Saturday, the Cardinals will look to defend Bowling Green's Justin Turner, an All-MAC First Team guard from last season who ranks fourth in the league at 18.6 points per game.

• Bowling Green leads the MAC and ranks sixth in the country in fewest turnovers per game. The Falcons are giving the ball away only 10.4 times per game and only 9.8 times per game in MAC play. The Falcons are also one of the nation's top rebounding teams, ranking 27th nationally at nearly 40 rebounds per game. Among MAC teams, only Buffalo collects more rebounds.

What's Trending
• Junior guard Ishmael El-Amin's 22 points in Tuesday's win over Northern Illinois were his most ever in a MAC game. El-Amin, who ranks third in the league at 42.9 percent from 3-point range, had hit only eight of his previous 30 from long range before making 4-of-6 against the Huskies.

• Redshirt freshman point guard Jarron Coleman matched his career-high with nine rebounds against NIU. It was the third time this season he has had nine boards in a game. Coleman, the Cardinals' starting point guard, ranks second on the team in rebounding during conference play at 5.4 per game.

• Among MAC freshmen, Jarron Coleman ranks first in rebounding (5.4 rpg), first in assists (3.4 apg) and second in scoring (8.9 ppg), slightly behind Western Michigan's B. Artis White (9.1).

• Tahjai Teague has moved into fifth place on Ball State's career rebounding chart with 896. Next up on the list is former teammate Trey Moses at 905. Teague also needs just nine more points to crack the top 10 on BSU's all-time scoring list. He also ranks third in blocks (125) and seventh in steals (152) in program history.

Cardinals Welcome First-Place Falcons for Saturday MAC Showdown

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Players Mentioned

Jarron Coleman

Ishmael El-Amin

Trey Moses

Tayler Persons

Tahjai Teague