Men's Basketball Hosting Eastern Michigan Tuesday Night in Return to Conference Play

Ball State Men's Basketball Mid-American Conference Play
Game 24 vs. Eastern Michigan	Tuesday, Feb. 11 at 7 p.m. Live Stats \| ESPN+
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The Ball State men's basketball team remains at home and returns to Mid-American Conference play when it hosts Eastern Michigan at 7 p.m. on Tuesday in a game presented by Village Promenade.

The matchup will be streamed on ESPN+ with AJ Swiatek, Zander Woods and Griffin Leonard on the call, while Mick Tidrow and Scot Bunnell handle the radio broadcast on WMUN 1340AM – 92.5FM.

Ball State leads the head-to-head series with the Eagles 68-47 including a 30-21 advantage in games played in Muncie. Eastern Michigan, however, won the most recent meeting 58-56 last Feb. 24 at Worthen after the Cardinals prevailed 76-62 on Jan. 16, 2024 in Ypsilanti.

The Cardinals (11-12, 4-6 MAC) beat Southern Miss 77-76 on Saturday afternoon behind 21 points from Mickey Pearson Jr., and 13 points and 12 rebounds by Payton Sparks in the MAC-SBC Challenge.

The Eagles (11-12, 4-6 MAC) beat Old Dominion 76-70 on Saturday after dropping three straight MAC games going into the weekend.

Eastern Michigan ranks ninth in the league in scoring offense (72.3 points per game) and scoring margin (-4.8) while ranking 10^th in scoring defense (77.1 points per game).

The Eagles feature three of the top 11 scorers in the MAC including Da'Sean Nelson (15.7 points per game), Christian Henry (14.9) and Jalen Terry (14.6). Terry is eighth nationally in playing time at almost
37 minutes per game.

Ball State will conclude its three-game homestand on Saturday with a 2 p.m. tipoff against Northern Illinois.

BIG GAME FOR MICKEY: Mickey Pearson Jr., scored a season-best 21 points, including 19 in the second half, in Ball State's win over Southern Miss on Saturday.

The forward reached the 1,000 career points mark in the second half after securing his 500th rebound at Ball State in the first half.

CARDIAC CARDS: Ball State's 77-76 win on Saturday against Southern Miss was its fourth of the season by four points or fewer.

The Cardinals also had thrilling wins at Central Michigan (82-80), Bellarmine (86-82) and vs Eastern Kentucky (63-61) earlier in the schedule.

DEFENDING THE NEST VS THE SUN BELT: Saturday's win was Ball State's second straight at home in the MAC-SBC Challenge.

The Cardinals beat the Old Dominion 73-68 on Nov. 11, 2023 in the inaugural matchup in the battle between the Mid-American and Sun Belt Conferences.

SUPER TUESDAY: The game will have postseason implications as both teams are tied for sixth in the MAC standings.

With Tuesday's matchup being the only of the regular season between Ball State and Eastern Michigan, the winner will get the tiebreaker in the seeding for March's conference tournament.

BIG WEEK FOR THE BIG MAN: Senior center Payton Sparks averaged 23.0 points and 15.5 rebounds in two games last week to earn a Mid-American Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week honor and increase his season averages to 12.8 points and a team-best 8.1 rebounds per game.

In MAC play, Sparks is second on the team with 15.9 points per game while averaging a team-high 10.7 rebounds per game average.

COMEBACK CARDS: Ball State rallied from a 10-point deficit on Jan. 28 at Buffalo for its second double-digit comeback of the year.

The Cardinals trailed 25-15 midway through the first half but used a 30-7 scoring run to claim a 45-32 lead at halftime. The biggest comeback of the year was from 13 points down at Central Michigan on Jan. 21.

SPREAD OUT THE SCORING: Six Cardinals scored in double figures in Ball State's 82-80 triumph at Central Michigan on Jan. 21: Mickey Pearson Jr. (16 points), Jeremiah Hernandez (15), Jermahri Hill (14), Payton Sparks (14), Ethan Brittain-Watts (13), and Juanse Gorosito (10).

It was the second time in four games six Cardinals have scored in double figures (Jan. 11 vs Bowling Green). Ball State had five in double digits in the scoring column on Jan. 18 against Toledo and on Jan. 25 at NIU.

PAYTON POUNDING THE GLASS: Sparks pulled down 14 rebounds along with putting up a career-high 27 points in the Jan. 28 win at Buffalo.

The Winchester, Ind., native leads the league in rebounding overall (8.0 per game) and in conference games (10.7). Sparks is the 10th Ball State men's basketball player in program history to reach 1,000 career points and 700 career rebounds for the Cardinals.

GETTING FAMILIAR WITH THE FREE THROW LINE: Junior guard Jermahri Hill (159) and Sparks (156) are first and second in the league in free throw attempts, respectively.

The two are No. 1 and No. 4 in the conference in free throws made, with 105 for Hill and 96 for Sparks.

MILESTONE WATCH: After Sparks (currently 1,177 points) reached the milestone on New Year's Eve and Pearson Jr. on Saturday (1,005), Jeremiah Hernandez (994) is closing in on scoring 1,000 points in his Division I career.

Sparks (717 rebounds) is currently No. 11 in Ball State program history for a career.

GETTING TO THE LINE: The Cardinals pace the Mid-American Conference in both free throw attempts per game (26.0) and free throws made per game (17.8) through the season's first 23 games.

Ball State ranks No. 9 and No. 11 in those categories in NCAA Division I, respectively. The total tallies (597 attempts and 409 makes) outpace the next-closest MAC team (Toledo) by 99 attempts and 42 makes.

GORO-THREE-TO: Junior guard Juanse Gorosito had made multiple 3-pointers in 16 games this season, including a season-best seven on Dec. 14 at Bellarmine to lead the Cardinals to an 86-82 win and eventually being named the MAC Player of the Week for the performance.

Gorosito is third in the conference in 3-pointers made (56) and second in shooting percentage (40.0) from distance among those who've made at least two per game.

HOME STATE HEROES: Brittain-Watts (2019), Zane Doughty, Joey Hart and Mason 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.

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 Ethan 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.

Men's Basketball Hosting Eastern Michigan Tuesday Night in Return to Conference Play

Players Mentioned

Ethan Brittain-Watts

Zane Doughty

Juanse Gorosito

Joey Hart

Jeremiah Hernandez

Jermahri Hill

Mason Jones

Mickey Pearson Jr.

Payton Sparks

Jurica Zagorsak

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