Cardinals Going For Another MAC Road Win

Ball State (6-5, 4-2) at Miami (4-4, 1-2)
Date	Tuesday, Jan. 19
Time	7 pm ET
Location	Millett Hall - Oxford, Ohio
Television	ESPN 3 (Steve Baker, Randy Hollowell) (Watch)
Radio	96.7 and 104.9 FM (Joel Godett, David Eha) (Listen)
Tickets	NONE AVAILABLE
Game Notes	Ball State \| Miami
Live Stats	Live Stats
Social Media	Twitter \| Instagram

Cardinals Looking For Another Road Win Tuesday

Already the owner of three league road wins, the Ball State men's basketball team is aiming for a fourth Tuesday night at Miami. BSU enters after its best week of the season, blowout wins at Bowling Green and at home vs. Northern Illinois. Ball State is 4-2 in MAC play, holding third place outright. Miami has only played twice in the last month.

The Starting 5 - The Top 5 Storylines For This Game

1. CARDS AND MIAMI - THE SERIES
Tuesday's game in Oxford is the 107th meeting between the two schools in men's basketball. Miami leads the all-time series 65-41 and has won three of the last four meetings. Ball State beat Miami 71-62 in Muncie last year behind 13 points each from Ishmael El-Amin and Luke Bumbalough. BSU shot 11-for-29 from 3 and was +13 at the free throw line in the win. Miami won 12 of 15 in the series between 2003-12 and 19 straight over BSU between 1953-78. Ball State beat Miaim seven of eight times in the late 80s and early 90s.

2. CARDINALS RIDING HIGH THIS WEEK
The Cardinals enter this game after two dominant wins last week: 88-64 at league leader Bowling Green and 77-58 over Northern Illinois at home. The win at BG was easily the team's best performance of the season. Ishmael El-Amin scored 20 to lead six different Cards in double figures and Ball State shot a season-best .554 from the floor. The 88 points was the most points in a road game in three years for Ball State. BSU brought the momentum of that win home against NIU, where the Cards built a double-digit lead in the first half and cruised to a rout to earn a season sweep over Northern. Miryne Thomas led BSU in the NIU win with 20 points.

3. CONFERENCE CALL
Saturday's win over NIU and Buffalo's loss Friday night lifted Ball State to an outright position in third in the conference standings. Ball State's first three conference wins all came on the road before Saturday's home win. A win Tuesday night would make BSU 5-2 in league play, which is the team's best 7-game start since the 2010-11 team also started 5-2. It would be the best 7-game league start under head coach James Whitford.

4. EVERYONE GETTING SHINE AS CARDS WIN...
After BSU's win at Western Michigan on Dec. 22, associate head coach Jason Grunkemeyer used the following quote in the locker room: "Sometimes it's you, sometimes it's me. Always it's us." That quote has described Ball State's recent success, as the Cardinals have had players find success up and down the lineup. Six different Cards averaged 8.0 ppg in the two wins last week and four different players scored a career high. Ishmael El-Amin averaged 14.5 points in the two wins, followed by Brachen Hazen (14.0), Miryne Thomas (13.0), K.J. Walton (12.0) and Luke Bumbalough (11.0).

5. ...SHINE CONTINUED
Teemu Suokas had his best game as a Cardinal Tuesday night, hitting three 3-pointers and scoring a career-best 11 points. Blake Huggins tied his career high of 10 points (8-for-10 FTs) against NIU and Ben Hendriks started and scored seven points against NIU.

Cardinals Looking For Another Road Win Tuesday

The Starting 5 - The Top 5 Storylines For This Game

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Players Mentioned

Luke Bumbalough

Ishmael El-Amin

Brachen Hazen

Ben Hendriks

Blake Huggins

Teemu Suokas

Miryne Thomas

K.J. Walton