Men's Basketball Back in Worthen Tuesday Night vs Oakland City

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The Ball State men's basketball team hosts Oakland City at 7 p.m. on Tuesday in finale of a three-game homestand to begin the season at Worthen Arena.

The battle between the Cardinals (2-0) and National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Mighty Oaks (1-3) will be the second on the schedule for Ball State against an NAIA member after having defeated Goshen College 101-40 last Tuesday. From here, the calendar features games with NCAA Division I teams exclusively.

Jalin Anderson's career highs of 29 points and nine rebounds led the Cardinals to a 73-68 win over visiting Old Dominion on Saturday in the MAC-SBC Challenge. Leading only 38-36 at halftime before trailing with just over a minute to play, Anderson's and-1 at the 1:04 mark put Ball State in front 64-63, and the hosts would lead from there.

Oakland City travels up I-69 to Muncie after going 0-2 at their Dunn Hospitality Group Classic last weekend, losing games to Central Baptist College and the University of Northwestern Ohio. The Mighty Oaks played an exhibition game at Appalachian State last Tuesday (87-49 loss).

Ball State recorded a 20-12 record (11-7 Mid-American Conference) in 2022-23 to earn the No. 4 seed in the MAC Tournament. Head coach Michael Lewis enters his second season leading the Cardinals after recent stops as an assistant at UCLA, Nebraska and Butler.

Juniors Mickey Pearson Jr. and Basheer Jihad headline the returners, as they averaged 7.7 points and 5.5 rebounds and 7.1 points and 3.6 rebounds per game, respectively, in 2022-23. Three transfers and five true freshmen bolster Ball State's 2023-24 team.

SCOUTING OAKLAND CITY: The Mighty Oaks went 9-19 (3-14 River States Conference) last season in head coach Ken French's second leading the program. Oakland City holds a 3-3 record to begin this season after tournaments in Richmond and Oakland City, Ind.

Junior guard Drake Moore leads the Mighty Oaks in scoring at 15.3 points per game while graduate DJ Redding and senior Abdul Wurie (11.0) also average in double figures scoring. Sam Muller (9.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per game) leads Oakland City on the glass.

CARDINAL DIRECTIONS

Ball State's 20 wins last year were its most since 2016-17 when that team won 21. This season's Cardinals will look for back-to-back 20-win schedules for the first time since that 2016-17 season.
The Cardinals are a young group, as the roster includes only one senior or graduate student (Ethan Brittain-Watts). Ball State returns only 21.5 percent of minutes played and 19.6 percent of points scored from last year's team.
Brittain-Watts (Boston University), Jalin Anderson (Loyola Marymount) and Davion Bailey (Southeastern CC) form Ball State's trio of transfers.
Joey Brown (Indianapolis), Zane Doughty (Indianapolis), Mason Jones (Valparaiso, Ind.), Trent Middleton Jr. (Philadelphia) and Jurica Zagorsak (Zadar, Croatia) are the Cardinals' quintet of true freshmen.
Ball State recently signed forward Jai Anthoni Bearden (Phoenix, Ariz.) and guard Jermarhi "Fatt" Hill (Bessemer, Ala.) to national letters of intent to form the Cardinals' 2024 recruiting class.

Up Next
The Cardinals travel to Evansville for their first road game of the season at 2 p.m. ET (1 p.m. CT) on Saturday at the Ford Center.

Men's Basketball Back in Worthen Tuesday Night vs Oakland City

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Players Mentioned

Jalin Anderson

Davion Bailey

Ethan Brittain-Watts

Joey Brown

Zane Doughty

Basheer Jihad

Mason Jones

Trent Middleton Jr.

Mickey Pearson Jr.

Jurica Zagorsak