Cardinals Heading North to Minnesota

The Ball State men's basketball team plays at Minnesota on Thursday night at 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. CT) in its final game on the 2023 calendar and first game against a Big Ten Conference opponent since 2020.

The game will be streamed on B1G+ with Minnesota student broadcasters Andrew Becker (play-by-play) and Kyra Schwanz (color commentator) on the call. Mick Tidrow and David Eha handle the radio broadcast on WMUN 1340AM - 92.5FM.

The Cardinals (8-3) and Golden Gophers (8-3, 1-1 Big Ten) meet for the first time since Nov. 26, 1988 when Ball State won 63-57 in Minneapolis to even the series record at 1-1. Minnesota has enjoyed the friendly confines of Williams Arena this season to the tune of an 8-1 home record, with the only loss being 70-68 to Missouri when the Gophers had a 20-point lead with 11:25 to play.

Ball State nearly overcame a 23-point second half deficit to Indiana State on Saturday afternoon at the Indy Classic Powered by Gainbridge, but the Sycamores pulled away for an 83-72 win at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Jalin Anderson (18 points, eight rebounds, six assists) and the Cardinals trailed 61-38 with 13:20 to play but fought back and made it a 76-72 game after an Anderson 3-pointer with 1:35 to go.

Minnesota has won three in a row going into Thursday's matchup, including its Big Ten home opener against Nebraska on Dec. 6 by a 76-65 score. The Golden Gophers have beaten common opponents USC Upstate (67-53 on Nov. 18) and Arkansas-Pine Bluff (86-67 on Nov. 21) for the two teams.

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 MINNESOTA: The Golden Gophers went 9-22 (2-17 Big Ten) last season in head coach Ben Johnson's second leading the program. Minnesota was the No. 14 seed in the conference tournament, beating Nebraska 78-75 in the first round before falling to Maryland.

The Gophers lead the league and rank No. 7 nationally in assists per game (19.7) while ranking second in the Big Ten and No. 28 nationally with a 49.2 field goal percentage. Minnesota is third in the conference in rebounding margin (+7.6) and scoring margin (+13.5).

Junior forward Dawson Garcia leads the Gophers with 18.2 points per game (fifth in the Big Ten) and rebounding average at 7.4 per game (ninth). Also scoring in double figures for Minnesota are freshman guard Cam Christie (11.6 points per game) and sophomore forward Joshua Ola-Joseph (10.5). Junior guard Elijah Hawkins averages a Big Ten-best 7.5 assists per game, ranking No. 3 in NCAA Division I.

CARDINAL DIRECTIONS

Jihad leads the Cardinals in scoring (18.5 points per game) and rebounding (7.3) averages. The junior forward out of Detroit has led the Cardinals in scoring eight games so far, scoring in double-figures 10 times, including five games with 20+ points. The big man's total points (203) rank third in the Mid-American Conference, while his rebounding average is fifth.
The Cardinals lead the MAC and rank No. 7 nationally in fewest fouls committed per game (13.5), while being second in the league in rebounding margin (+5.6) and third in scoring defense (66.5 points per game) and 3-point shooting (37.8 percent).
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.

BANKING ON BASHEER: Junior forward Basheer Jihad leads the team in scoring (18.5 points per game), rebounding (7.3 per game) and field goal percentage (52.4) among Cardinals averaging at least four field goal attempts this season. Jihad has established or tied career highs in scoring five times already this season, including in the Dec. 10 win vs SIUE (27 points).

The Detroit native's scoring average has nearly tripled over last year (7.1), while his rebounding average has more than doubled (3.6). Jihad started only one game in his first two seasons at Ball State, but has been a mainstay in the starting lineup as an upperclassman now.

JALIN JAMS: Anderson, a transfer out of Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles, leads the Ball State backcourt in scoring (15.4 points per game) and the team in assists (4.3 per game) as the Cardinals' lead guard.

The Jackson, Tenn., native boasts Ball State's highest offensive output (29 points against Old Dominion) so far and is on pace to set career bests for points, rebounds, assists and steals. Anderson has shown a penchant for explosive offensive performances, posting three 20+ point games so far in the nonconference season.

EMERGENCE OF BIG BEN: Redshirt junior center Ben Hendriks has started each of the last six games, totaling career-highs of 11 points and seven rebounds in the Dec. 2 win over Bellarmine and 32 minutes played in the Dec. 10 win against SIUE.

Hendriks already surpassed his career-bests for points (56), rebounds (40), assists (12), blocks (10) and steals (four) in a season through the schedule's first 11 games while shooting an impressive 84.2 percent at the free throw line. The big man has seen increased playing time over the last six contests, averaging 22.7 minutes per game after playing 6.8 per in the first five games.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK X2: Jihad was named the Mid-American Conference Men's Basketball Co-Player of the Week on both Dec. 4 and Dec. 11.

Jihad averaged 24.3 points and 8.8 rebounds per game, setting career highs in scoring three times over the four-game stretch to lead Ball State to a 3-1 record.

WINNING IN WORTHEN: The Cardinals clinched an undefeated home nonconference slate for the fourth straight season with the Dec. 10 decision over the Cougars.

Ball State has won 19 consecutive nonconference contests at Worthen Arena, with its last loss being on Dec. 3, 2019 to Loyola (Chicago).

1,300 WINS: The Ball State men's basketball team recorded win No. 1,300 in program history with the Dec. 2 decision against Bellarmine. The Cardinals are the tenth current MAC men's basketball team to reach that milestone.

MAC Program Wins (as of Dec. 4, 2023)
Akron - 1,697
Ball State - 1,300
Buffalo - 1,279
Bowling Green - 1,452
Central Michigan - 1,356
Eastern Michigan - 1,292
Kent State - 1,332
Miami (OH) - 1,436
Northern Illinois - 1,315
Ohio - 1,614
Toledo - 1,551
Western Michigan - 1,372

MILESTONE WATCH: Jihad and Pearson Jr. both scored their 500th career points in the second half on Saturday against Indiana St, with Jihad hitting the figure with a 3-pointer and Pearson Jr. getting to the total on a layup.

Pearson Jr. tallied 23 of those points playing at TCU, while Anderson (773) boasts the most career points in NCAA Division I on the current roster.

BIG TEN BATTLE: This serves as Ball State's first game against a Big Ten Conference opponent since 2020 at Michigan. The Cardinals will be playing for their first win against a Big Ten foe since Dec. 18, 1999 against Purdue (in Indianapolis).

Ball State's most recent Big Ten win in a true road game came on Nov. 16, 1998 at Michigan. The only current members of the Big Ten the Cardinals have yet to play in series history are Iowa, Penn State and Rutgers.

Up Next
The Cardinals take a break for Christmas and New Year's before beginning MAC play on Tuesday, Jan. 2 at Kent State.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jalin Anderson

Davion Bailey

Ethan Brittain-Watts

Joey Brown

Zane Doughty

Ben Hendriks

Basheer Jihad

Mason Jones

Trent Middleton Jr.

Jurica Zagorsak