Cards Have Home Finale Tuesday Night

Ball State (9-11, 7-8) vs. Eastern Michigan (5-11, 2-10)
Date	Tuesday, March 2
Time	7 pm ET
Location	Worthen Arena - Muncie
Television	ESPN3 (Joel Godett, David Eha) (Watch)
Radio	96.7 and 104.9 FM (Jeff Weller, Scot Bunnell) (Listen)
Tickets	NONE AVAILABLE
Game Notes	Ball State \| Eastern Michigan
Live Stats	Live Stats
Social Media	Twitter \| Instagram

The Ball State men's basketball team finishes its home schedule Tuesday night after its two best offensive performances of the season. The Cardinals can win a third straight game for the second time this season. Eastern Michigan is playing out the string but won its second league game in convincing fashion on Saturday, a 91-57 rout over Northern Illinois.

The Cardinals have clinched a berth in the MAC Men's Basketball Championship in Cleveland and are now playing for seeding. BSU enters Tuesday a half-game behind Miami for the No. 7 spot.

After Tuesday, the Cards are at Toledo in the regular season finale on Friday. That game will be a 7 p.m. game on CBS Sports Network.

The Starting 5 - The Top 5 Storylines For This Game

1. CARDS AND EASTERN - THE SERIES
Tuesday's home finale is the 108th meeting between BSU and EMU in hoops. Ball State leads the series by 21 games and has won the last three meetings. Eastern Michigan is 20-27 in Muncie. The BSU-EMU basketball history dates back to February 1947 when Ball State beat Eastern 73-32 in Ball Gym.

2. 'STUPID' IS AS 'STOOPID' DOES
In Saturday's postgame presser, Ball State's offensive output was described as "stupid." Or maybe "stoopid." Either way, the Cardinals are scoring and shooting at a high level in recent games. BSU dropped 90 in a blowout win over Kent State and then 97 vs. Central Michigan. Those are the two highest scoring outputs of the season and the highest since November 2018 (187 points vs. Tiffin, IUPUI). For the week, Ball State averaged 93.5 points on 55% shooting and shot 49% from 3-point range.

3. MAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Following last week's offensive explosion, Jarron Coleman was the first Ball State player this season to be MAC Player of the Week. Coleman averaged 25.0 points and 6.0 assists and made 11 of his 17 3-pointers in the two wins last week. Coleman, a 6-5 guard from Indianapolis, has been back from injury for 10 games now. He is averaging 17.6 points and 4.8 assists over the last five games, compared to 6.4 points and 2.2 assists during his first five games.

4. CONFERENCE SOS
Ball State is finally getting games against the bottom third of the 12-team MAC. BSU played six games against the current top 4 in the league (2-4 vs. Toledo, Akron, Kent, Buffalo) and only three against the bottom 4 until this week. BSU is now 4-0 against the bottom third of the standings with a fifth game Tuesday night. Ball State will end up playing 17 conference home games, and will be the No. 7 or 8 seed in the championship bracket March 11-13.

5. SENIOR SALUTE
This game may be the final home game for three players who have been at BSU for four years and have 62 wins and counting. Brachen Hazen, K.J. Walton and Ishmael El-Amin will go through Senior Night ceremonies. The trio has been at BSU since 2017 and has won 54% of its games. Walton (Missouri) and Hazen (Arkansas) each came from SEC schools, while El-Amin has been a four-year Card. Both Walton and El-Amin crossed the 1,000-point career mark this year. The caveat with any senior ceremony across college basketball this year is that it's essentially a 'free' year of eligibility and nothing is quite guaranteed. Nonetheless, these three men will be recognized Tuesday night.

The Starting 5 - The Top 5 Storylines For This Game

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Players Mentioned

Jarron Coleman

Ishmael El-Amin

Brachen Hazen

K.J. Walton