Ball State University Athletics
Ball State University
University at Buffalo (First Responder | Civil Service Night)
Women's Basketball Battles Buffalo at Home Wednesday in Midweek #MACtion
January 09, 2024 | Women's Basketball
Ball State (12-2, 2-0 MAC) vs Buffalo (7-5, 1-1 MAC)
January 10, 2024 >>Worthen Arena >Muncie, Ind.>> 6:30 pm ET
Opening Tip:
- The Ball State women's basketball team looks to remain undefeated in Mid-American Conference play when it hosts Buffalo in Worthen Arena Wednesday for a 6:30 pm ET tipoff. The last time Ball State started its league season 3-0 was in 2019-20.
- The Cardinals are coming off of a 71-64 OT win at Akron Saturday. Ally Becki led Ball State with a 20-point performance while also scoring seven of the Cardinals 11 points in the extra period to help propel BSU past Akron.
- The Bulls have opened MAC play with a 1-1 ledger with a loss to Kent State (73-64) and a win at Central Michigan (77-69).
- Wednesday's game against Buffalo will mark the 37th time in program history the two schools have met, with the Cardinals leading the all-time series, 20-16.
- Ball State and Buffalo's first-ever meeting was on Jan. 30 at Buffalo in 1998-99. The Bulls won that meeting 71-63 and would go on to win the next two over the Cardinals. Ball State's first-ever victory over Buffalo was in Worthen Arena on Feb. 9 by a score of 72-59.
- The Cardinals won their last meeting against the Bulls on Jan. 18, 2023 in Buffalo, N.Y.
Ball State scored 30 points in the final 10 minutes of action which helped the Cardinals to an 81-59 victory at Buffalo. Ally Becki led all players that contest with 23 points while adding 10 rebounds.
- Ball State head coach Brady Sallee has defeated six Power 5 conference teams seven times during his tenure with the Cardinals — Minnesota (54-51, 2012-13), Iowa (77-72, 2015-16), Vanderbilt (88-79, 2017-18), Purdue (66-60, 2017-18), Pitt (68-66, 2022-23), Pitt (73-62, 2023-24) and Georgia (52-51, 2023-24).
Game Day Tidbits:
- In her first 13 contests as a Cardinal, Nyla Hampton has stolen the ball 54 times and has dished out 68 assists. Hampton stole the ball eight times against Tennessee Tech (11/6/23) which marks a season best for her. Hampton is third in the nation in total steals (54) and ranks fifth in steals per game (3.86).
- The Cardinals as a team rank in the top 100 in these categorie: 24th in steals per game (11.4), 32nd in turnovers forced (20.50), 28th in 3-pointers per game (8.6), 27th in winning percentage (85.7), 40th in 3-point attempts (24.6), 53rd in bench points (24.9), 41st in turnover margin (4.79), 66th in assists per game (15.9), 70th in 3-point field goal percentage (34.8), 60th in field goal percentage (44.9), 75th in scoring offense (74.2) and 85th in assist/turnover ratio (1.01).
- Madelyn Bischoff ranks 7th in 3-pointers per contest in the country (3.31), 10th in 3-point field goal percentage (47.8) and 16th in total 3-pointers (43).
Career Milestones:
- Ally Becki needs 75 points for 1,000, 82 assists and 43 rebounds to reach the 500 mark.
- Nyla Hampton needs 29 points for 1,000.
- Marie Kiefer has 113 blocks for her career -- needs 39 to move into first place.
We Love Our Fans:
Ball State fans have come to support the Cardinals all season in Muncie including the game against #14 Notre Dame as Ball State played in front of a record-breaking crowd of 5,442 people surpassing their previous attendance record of 4,711 which was set versus Eastern Michigan on Feb. 24, 2007. So far this season, the Cardinals have welcomed a total of 12,560 fans to Worthen Arena in just four home contests while averaging 3,163 attendees per game.
Next Game:
Ball State continues its two-game home stand when it hosts Bowling Green Saturday at 1 pm ET in Worthen Arena. The Cardinals and the Falcons have met a total of 73 times in program history with the Falcons leading the all-time series record, 47-26.
Sallee is HOT in January:
It may be cold outside but the Cardinals tend to get hot in the month of January under 12th-year head coach Brady Sallee. Sallee owns an overall record of 59-28 (.678) in the month of January dating back to his first season in 2012-13.
