Men's Hoops Hosts Senior Night Contest Tuesday versus Central Michigan

Game 30
Senior Night
Ball State (16-13, 9-7 MAC) vs. Central Michigan (13-16, 6-10 MAC)
Tuesday, March 3 (7 p.m. ET)
Muncie, Ind. (Worthen Arena)
Watch: ESPN+ | Listen: 96.7/104.9 | Live Stats

Setting the Stage
• Ball State welcomes Central Michigan for its final regular season home contest, and the Cardinals will celebrate Senior Night with a pregame ceremony. Tuesday marks the second meeting between the teams this season. BSU is seeking to avenge a 71-66 loss in Mount Pleasant back on Jan. 25.

• Ball State is looking to bounce back from a 69-63 setback Saturday at Toledo, while Central Michigan is coming off a 67-63 loss at Eastern Michigan. The Cardinals also have one final road trip to Northern Illinois on Friday to close the regular season. Winning both Tuesday and Friday would guarantee the Cardinals a third MAC West Division championship in five years and a first-round bye in the MAC Tournament.

The Matchup
• Ball State and Central Michigan split their two meetings in both of the past two seasons, and the Cardinals are looking to achieve a split again this season.

• Ball State could not overcome a season-high 28 turnovers in its five-point setback at Central Michigan in January. Tahjai Teague registered 17 points, a career-high 18 rebounds and five blocks in the loss. The Cardinals also got 35 points from freshmen that day -- 13 from Luke Bumbalough, 12 from Jarron Coleman and 10 from Kani Acree.

• Central Michigan and Ball State were tied for the MAC West Division lead at 4-2 after the season's first meeting. The Chippewas eventually reached 6-2, but, after a Feb. 4 win over league leader Bowling Green, CMU has lost eight in a row.

• Central Michigan continues to be the highest scoring team in the MAC at 78.9 points per game for the season. The Chippewas also surrender the most points in the league at 76.4 points per game. Ball State continues to rank first in the league in scoring defense in conference play, allowing 63.8 points per game.

• Central Michigan features four players averaging double-figure scoring, led by David DiLeo at 14.8 points per game. He ranks fourth among all active Division I players with 331 career 3-pointers. Kevin McKay is averaging 13.6 points per game and ranks second in the MAC in field goal percentage (.604).

What's Trending
• Ball State will honor seniors Kyle Mallers, Tahjai Teague and Josh Thompson prior to tipoff. K.J. Walton will not participate in the Senior Day festivities. Ball State athletic department officials are working with the Mid-American Conference and the NCAA on a sixth year of eligibility for Walton who previously sat out a year as a transfer from Missouri and has been sidelined by an ankle injury for all but 10 games this season. Walton will have surgery this week.

• Junior guard Ishmael El-Amin now ranks fourth on Ball State's single-season 3-point chart with 73. He needs one more 3 to match Francis Kiapway (2015-16) for third on the list. The top two spots belong to a pair of players from the 2001-02 season -- Chris Williams (90) and Patrick Jackson (81).

• BSU's average home attendance of 4,470 leads the MAC. The Cardinals drew a season-high 5,921 on Feb. 22 versus Eastern Michigan. The last time BSU led the league in attendance was the 2005-06 season (5,076 average).

Implications
• Ball State is one game behind Northern Illinois for first place in the MAC West Division with two games left, including one at NIU. The Cardinals are seeking a third division championship in five years, having shared the title in both 2016 and 2017.

• The Cardinals are tied with Buffalo for fourth in the overall MAC standings. BSU would currently be the No. 5 seed in the MAC Tournament based on tiebreakers but could still potentially reach as high as the No. 3. A top-four seed would earn the Cardinals a first-round bye. Otherwise, BSU would host a first-round game on Monday, March 9.

Men's Hoops Hosts Senior Night Contest Tuesday versus Central Michigan

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Players Mentioned

Kani Acree

Luke Bumbalough

Jarron Coleman

Ishmael El-Amin

Kyle Mallers

Tahjai Teague

Josh Thompson

K.J. Walton