MBB Returns to the Road to Play at SIUE Sunday

The Ball State men's basketball team continues nonconference play with a 2 p.m. ET (1 p.m. CT) tilt on Sunday afternoon at SIUE.

The game will be streamed on ESPN+, while Mick Tidrow and David Eha handle the radio broadcast on WMUN 1340AM – 92.5FM. Ball State extended its edge in the all-time series to 5-0 after defeating the Cougars 83-71 last Dec. 10 in Muncie.

Ball State went 2-1 at the Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Fla., in the days leading up to Thanksgiving highlighted by a 63-61 win over Eastern Kentucky in the opener on Monday. The Cardinals also beat Florida Tech 94-57 on Tuesday before falling to Richmond by a score of 73-60 on Wednesday.

SIUE (5-4) of the Ohio Valley Conference most recently fell to North Florida 78-73 on Nov. 29. The Cougars won 77-72 at common opponent Indiana State on Nov. 12 and beat Mid-American Conference foe Western Michigan 79-60 on Nov. 15 in Kalamazoo.

The Cardinals play at Bellarmine next Saturday, Dec. 14 in Louisville.

SCOUTING SIUE: The Cougars are in their sixth season under the direction of head coach Brian Barone and were picked to finish third in the 11-team OVC in the preseason poll.

SIUE leads the league in assists per game (16.7), fastbreak points (13.7 per game) and scoring defense (67.9 points per game) entering the weekend.

Graduate guard Ray'Sean Taylor is at the top of the OVC leaderboard in total assists (52) and assists per game (5.8), with the total assists mark ranking No. 19 nationally. Taylor gets up the sixth-most 3-point attempts in NCAA Division I (80 total) and ranks third in the conference in scoring (142 total points).

CARDINAL DIRECTIONS

Ball State features a revamped roster bolstered by five incoming transfers and three true freshmen while returning a majority of the frontcourt from last season's team including Mickey Pearson Jr., Ben Hendriks and Mason Jones.
The Cardinals were picked to finish sixth in the Mid-American Conference by the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook and seventh by the league's head coaches in the preseason poll released in late October.
The Cardinals' roster is deep in experience with four sixth-year seniors in Ethan Brittain-Watts, Ben Hendriks, Jeremiah Hernandez and Mickey Pearson Jr. Ball State has the most student-athletes in their sixth year of college of any men's basketball team in NCAA Division I (Southern Miss has three sixth-year and two seventh-year seniors).
Ball State's student-athletes have played in 603 games and made 254 starts at the Division I level entering the season, while Hernandez and Payton Sparks have been All-Conference performers.
Sparks was recently picked First Team All-MAC in the preseason poll after being a two-time Second Team selection in his first two seasons in Muncie. Hernandez averaged 17.2 points and 3.3 rebounds per game last season at USI to be named First Team All-Ohio Valley Conference.

TOP OF THE HILL: Junior Jermahri Hill was named the Mid-American Conference Co-Player of the Week on Dec. 2 after averaging 21.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game in three games at the Gulf Coast Showcase.

Hill had assists on three-point plays to Mickey Pearson Jr. and Payton Sparks in the final minute of the 63-61 win over Eastern Kentucky in the opener on Nov. 25. The guard paces the MAC in free throw attempts (61) and makes (41) while ranking second at 17.6 points per game on the year.

GORO-THREE-TO: Junior guard Juanse Gorosito had a big week in Florida from beyond the arc going 12-for-23 on 3-pointers to raise his shooting percentage from distance to 46.8 percent on the year.

Gorosito made at least three triples in each of the three games including 6 of 10 against Richmond. The 3-point percentage leads the MAC and ranks No. 37 in NCAA Division I, while
Gorosito's 22 made 3-pointers are the third-most in the MAC.

I REMEMBER YOU: Ball State has played six different players this season who were on MAC rosters during the 2023-24 season. SIUE's Darrion Baker (from Akron) will be the seventh. The full list is below.

Darrion Baker (Akron to SIUE)
Legend Geeter (Eastern Michigan to Detroit Mercy)
Markus Harding (Central Michigan to Indiana State)
Orlando Lovejoy (Eastern Michigan to Detroit Mercy)
Cyril Martynov (Eastern Michigan to Eastern Kentucky)
Zarique Nutter (Northern Illinois to Georgia State)
B. Artis White (Western Michigan to Richmond)

GETTING TO THE LINE: The Cardinals paced the Mid-American Conference in both free throw attempts per game (27.9) and free throws made per game (19.1) through the season's first eight games.

Ball State ranks No. 5 and No. 23 in those categories in NCAA Division I, respectively. The tallies outpace the next-closest MAC team (Buffalo) by 12 attempts and nine makes.

FAMILIAR FOES: Ball State's matchup with SIUE will be its third of five games this season against nonconference opponents that the Cardinals also faced last year.

Including Indiana State (Nov. 16) and Detroit Mercy (Nov. 20), Ball State will also play Bellarmine (Dec. 14) and Evansville (Dec. 21).

SLAM JAM: Hill's one-hand slam dunk for an and-one at the end of the first half on Nov. 13 at Dayton was the No. 1 play on SportsCenter's Top 10 list.

Hill led the Cardinals with 25 points, seven rebounds and three assists for the game.

WE'LL PLAY ANYWHERE: The Cardinals will play in a fourth different state away from home when they take on SIUE in Edwardsville, Ill., near St. Louis. In total, they have five different states on the nonconference schedule.

Ball State is scheduled to play at Bellarmine in Kentucky (Dec. 14) after playing at Georgia State in the season opener, at Dayton in the third game of the year and recently in Florida for the Gulf Coast Showcase.

IN-STATE BATTLES: Ball State is set to host Franklin (Nov. 8), Indiana State (Nov. 16), Evansville (Dec. 21) and Anderson (Dec. 31) for a quartet of in-state rivalries this season.

The men's basketball program hasn't hosted at least four teams from the state of Indiana since 2013-14 when that team played Taylor, Butler, Valparaiso and Oakland City at Worthen Arena.

PEARSON POUNDING THE GLASS: Mickey Pearson Jr. tied his career-best with 13 rebounds in the season opener at Georgia State before grabbing 11 against Detroit Mercy on Nov. 20.

The forward also notched 13 boards on Nov. 7, 2022 against Earlham at Worthen Arena. Pearson Jr. averages 7.3 rebounds per game which ranks third in the MAC, while his 58 total rebounds are second entering the weekend.

HOME STATE HEROES: Brittain-Watts (2019), Zane Doughty, Joey Hart and Jones (2023) were each named Indiana High School All-Stars, while three more Cardinals also had ties to the state before arriving in Muncie.

Ball State has the second-most players from Indiana high schools among Indiana-based Division I teams behind Purdue.

WORLD FLYERS: The 2024-25 Ball State roster consists of student-athletes from three different countries in addition to the United States of America.

Juanse Gorosito (Argentina), Hendriks (Canada) and Jurica Zagorsak (Croatia) are international Cardinals this season. Interestingly, Juanse, Ben and Jurica were born on different continents, so Ball State has student-athletes from North America, South America and Europe on the team.

TRANSFERS FROM ALL OVER: Each of Ball State's seven student-athletes who have transferred into the program have come from different college basketball conferences.

The list includes Brittain-Watts (Patriot League, Boston), Gorosito (West Coast Conference, Portland), Hart (SEC, Kentucky), Hernandez (Ohio Valley Conference, USI), Pearson Jr. (Big 12, TCU), Sparks (Big Ten, Indiana) and Hill who played junior college ball at South Plains in Levelland, Texas.

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Players Mentioned

Ethan Brittain-Watts

Zane Doughty

Juanse Gorosito

Joey Hart

Ben Hendriks

Jeremiah Hernandez

Jermahri Hill

Mason Jones

Mickey Pearson Jr.

Payton Sparks

Jurica Zagorsak