Cards Have Friday Night Showdown At Ohio

Cards Head Into Friday Night TV Showdown At OU

Ball State followers can catch the Cardinals Friday night on CBS Sports Network when BSU takes on Ohio. The Cardinals and Bobcats met on Jan. 2 in Muncie, with OU winning 78-68. Ball State has won two of its last three and is coming off a loss at Miami. Ohio last played on Jan. 16 in a loss to Kent State.

Ball State (6-6, 4-3) at Ohio (7-6, 3-4)
Date	Friday, Jan. 22
Time	7 pm ET
Location	Convocation Center - Athens, Ohio
Television	CBS Sports Network (Alex Del Barrio, Tim Doyle)
Radio	96.7 and 104.9 FM (Joel Godett, David Eha) (Listen)
Tickets	NONE AVAILABLE
Game Notes	Ball State \| Ohio
Live Stats	Live Stats
Social Media	Twitter \| Instagram

The Starting 5 - The Top 5 Storylines For This Game

1. CARDS AND OHIO - THE SERIES
Friday's matchup is the 86th meeting between between the two schools, with Ohio leading 50-35. The Bobcats have won three of the last four in the series, including a win in Muncie earlier this month. Ball State's last win at Ohio came on Jan. 9, 2018 - a 75-68 win where BSU held Ohio to 38% shooting. Only one active player on either team played in that game three years ago: Ishmael El-Amin.

2. TUESDAY NIGHT IN MIAMI
If someone predicted Ball State would go to Miami and shoot a better field goal percentage than MU, grab more rebounds, shoot 42% fom 3-point range and make all 19 of its free throws...all of those suggest Ball State won the game. However, pressure defense by Miami resulting in a 25-6 edge in points of turnovers and Miami shooting 38 free throws would be too much to overcome. Ball State led by seven at one point early and led 36-35 at halftime before Miami shot 27 foul shots in the second half.

3. CONFERENCE CALL
A road win at Ohio keeps the Cardinals squarely in the hunt for top-4 positioning in the MAC standings, and gives the Cards a fourth league win on the road. Only Toledo, Bowling Green and Ball State own three MAC road wins this year. Individually, Miryne Thomas - a 6-8 forward - leads the conference in 3-point shooting (.531). He would be the first non-guard to lead the conference in 3FG% since 2013-14 when Eastern Michigan's Karrington Ward led the league. Ishmael El-Amin is in the MAC rankings in FT% (4th), steals (T-4th), assists (10th) and scoring (12th).

4. THIS OHIO GAME MIGHT LOOK A LITTLE DIFFERENT
Ball State and Ohio played just 20 days ago, but both teams will look different Friday night in Athens. Ohio is expected to have star guard Jason Preston (18.3 ppg, 6.0 rpg) back. He didn't play in the game at BSU. Ball State was missing Jarron Coleman and Blake Huggins in the first meeting.

5. STARTING FOR YOUR CARDINALS???
It's not secret the roster juggling many teams across the country are having to do, and Ball State is no different. Ball State has used four different starting lineups in 12 games, and three of those combinations just twice or once each. The three guards (Walton, El-Amin, Bumbalough) have stay in place each game while Brachen Hazen, Miryne Thomas, Blake Huggins, Zach Gunn and Ben Hendriks have all started at different times throughout the season. Thomas and Hazen have stated alongside each other seven times, but not since the previous Ohio game on Jan. 2.

Cards Head Into Friday Night TV Showdown At OU

The Starting 5 - The Top 5 Storylines For This Game

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Players Mentioned

Jarron Coleman

Ishmael El-Amin

Zach Gunn

Brachen Hazen

Ben Hendriks

Blake Huggins

Miryne Thomas