Men's Basketball Heads to Detroit to Battle the Titans

The Ball State men's basketball team hits the road to play at Detroit Mercy at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

The Cardinals (6-2) are in search of their first win away from Worthen Arena while the Titans (0-8) look for their first win of the season. Ball State is tied 2-2 with Detroit in the series history, with the most recent game taking place in 2004 (a 59-44 Cardinals win in Detroit).

Basheer Jihad tallied a 19-point, 11-rebound double-double on Saturday to lead the Cardinals to a 67-58 win over Bellarmine. The victory improved Ball State's home record to 6-0 to start the schedule.

Detroit, of the Horizon League, lost its two conference-opening games to Oakland and Cleveland State during the past week, while dropping a 76-72 decision to Mid-American Conference member Eastern
Michigan on Nov. 21. The closest game for the Titans was a score of 70-69 at Ole Miss on Nov. 14.

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.

Detroit head coach Mike Davis and Lewis' paths crossed at Indiana in the late 1990s when Davis was an assistant coach and Lewis a guard on the team.

SCOUTING DETROIT: The Titans went 14-19 (9-11 Horizon League) last season in Davis' 5^th leading the program. Guard Antoine Davis finished just three points shy of Pete Maravich's NCAA Division I
career scoring record of 3,667 points after averaging 28.2 per game and scoring 930 total during his final season.

Senior guard Jayden Stone is a high-volume shooter who leads the conference and ranks No. 13 nationally in points per game (21.8), No. 14 in field goal attempts (134) and No. 16 in field goals made (62). The Grand Canyon transfer plays an average of more than 37 minutes per game, which is the 16^th-highest average in Division I.

Also scoring in double figures is sophomore guard Marcus Tankersley (12.0 points per game). Forward Edoardo Del Cadia leads the team in assists (23 total) and rebounding (6.5 per game) while scoring 9.8 per game.

CARDINAL DIRECTIONS

Jihad leads the Cardinals in scoring (17.5 points per game) and rebounding (6.8) averages. The junior forward out of Detroit has led the Cardinals in scoring six games so far, scoring in double-figures seven times, including three games with 20+ points.
The Cardinals lead the MAC in scoring defense (64.1 points per game), rebounding margin (+5.6) and fewest fouls committed per game (12.9), which ranks sixth nationally.
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 (17.5 points per game), rebounding (6.8 per game) and field goal percentage (51.5) among Cardinals averaging at least four field goal attempts this season.

The Detroit native's scoring average has doubled over last year (7.1), while his rebounding average has nearly double (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 (14.5 points per game) and the team in assists (3.9 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.

EMERGENCE OF BIG BEN: Redshirt junior center Ben Hendriks has started each of the last four games, totaling career-highs of 11 points and seven rebounds in Saturday's win over Bellarmine.

Hendriks already surpassed his career-bests for points (40), blocks (eight), assists (five) and steals (two) in a season through the schedule's first eight games. The big man has seen increased playing time over the last four contests, reaching 30 minutes of court time against the Knights.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Jihad was named the Mid-American Conference Men's Basketball Co-Player of the Week, along with Ohio's Elmore James, for his performances against Little Rock and Bellarmine in the preceding week.

Jihad went for a career-best 25 points at the Trojans on Tuesday before putting up a 19-point, 11-rebound double-double in Saturday's triumph over the Knights.

1,300 WINS: The Ball State men's basketball team recorded win No. 1,300 in program history with Saturday's 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

Up Next
Ball State returns to Worthen Arena to host SIUE on Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Cardinals' final home game of the nonconference season and 2023.

Men's Basketball Heads to Detroit to Battle the Titans

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jalin Anderson

Davion Bailey

Ethan Brittain-Watts

Joey Brown

Zane Doughty

Ben Hendriks

Basheer Jihad

Mason Jones

Trent Middleton Jr.

Mickey Pearson Jr.

Jurica Zagorsak