Cardinals Returning to Worthen to Face Bellarmine

The Ball State men's basketball team returns to the friendly confines of Worthen Arena to host Bellarmine in its first game of December.

The Cardinals (5-2) and Knights (2-6) are scheduled to play for the first time in series history. Little Rock topped Ball State 90-64 on Tuesday in Arkansas, but the Cardinals ended November undefeated at home. Bellarmine is used to road games by now after starting the year with 6 of its first 8 games being away contests.

Basheer Jihad upped his career high to 25 points against the Trojans, scoring 21 in the first half, but that wasn't enough for the Cardinals to win against a hot Little Rock offense. Ball State fell to 0-2 away from Muncie with the loss.

Bellarmine, of the Atlantic Sun Conference, lost close games at Kansas State (83-75 on Nov. 10), West Virginia (62-58 on Nov. 26) and Louisville (73-68 on Nov. 29) while also playing at Washington in the season opener. The Knights' wins were at Bowling Green (85-67 on Nov. 17) and against Midway (77-56 on Nov. 21). Bellarmine won the ASUN Conference Tournament back in 2022 but wasn't yet eligible
for the NCAA Tournament after transitioning to Division I.

\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 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 BELLARMINE: The Knights went 15-18 (9-9 ASUN) last season in head coach Scott Davenport's 17^th leading the program. Bellarmine made the jump from the NCAA Division II Great Lakes
Valley Conference beginning in the 2020-21 season.

Redshirt sophomore guard Ben Johnson paces the Knights offense with 13.0 points per game on 40 percent 3-point shooting and 81.3 percent free throw shooting, while fellow guards Peter Suder (11.0) and Bash Wieland (10.6) also average in double figures scoring.

Graduate guard Alec Pfriem leads Bellarmine in rebounding (5.0 per game), assists (25 total) and field goal percentage (.545) while chipping in 8.8 points per contest.

CARDINAL DIRECTIONS

Jihad leads the Cardinals in scoring (17.3 points per game) and rebounding (6.1) averages. The junior forward out of Detroit has led the Cardinals in scoring five games so far, scoring in double-figures six times, including three games with 20+ points.
The Cardinals lead the MAC in rebounding margin (+6.0), scoring defense (65.0 points per game) and scoring margin (+13.1).
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
Ball State plays at Detroit on Wednesday at Detroit on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Cardinals' third road game on the 2023-24 calendar.

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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