Cardinals Hosting League-Leading Akron Tuesday Night

Ball State Men's Basketball Mid-American Conference Play
Game 28 vs. Akron	Tuesday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. Live Stats \| ESPN+ \| Listen
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The Ball State men's basketball team hosts league-leading Akron at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at Worthen Arena in the second-to-last home game of the season.

The matchup will be streamed on ESPN+ with Mick Tidrow and David Eha on the call, while Mark Foerster and Scot Bunnell handle the radio broadcast on WMUN 1340AM – 92.5FM.

Akron leads the head-to-head series with the Cardinals 31-19, but the Cardinals own a 13-11 record in games played in Muncie against the Zips. Akron won 81-73 at home in a back-and-forth affair on Feb. 4 in the first game of the year between the two teams.

Ball State (14-13, 7-7 Mid-American Conference) beat Buffalo 80-66 on Saturday afternoon to sweep the season series with the Bulls. Payton Sparks led the Cardinals with 18 points and pulled down eight rebounds for the game.

Akron (21-6, 13-1 MAC) is at the top of the conference standings but fell 84-67 at Ohio on Saturday night after winning 13 straight games. The Zips won nine of those games by double figures.

The Zips lead the league in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.47), assists per game (18.4, No. 4 in NCAA Division I), bench points per game (33.6, No. 7), rebounding margin (+4.4), rebounds per game (39.8, No. 18), scoring offense (83.6 points per game, No. 12), 3-point attempts per game (30.4, No. 4), 3-pointers made per game (10.9, No. 4) and 3-point defense (30.8 percent).

Redshirt junior guard Nate Johnson leads a balanced Akron offense with 13.7 points per game and ranks third in the MAC with 1.9 steals per game. Senior forward James Okonkwo is the league's second-leading rebounder at 7.7 per game.

Up next for the Cardinals is a 2 p.m. game on Saturday at Bowling Green. Ball State beat the Falcons 91-69 on Jan. 11 at Worthen in the first matchup of the year between the teams.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE REMATCH: Ball State has improved its point differential in the second game of each of its three home-and-homes so far this season.

The Cardinals improved by 16 points against Northern Illinois, 17 against Toledo and one point against Buffalo, beating the Bulls 89-76 on Feb. 1 at Buffalo before Saturday's 80-66 win at Worthen Arena.

CAREER HIGH FOR THE CANADIAN: Center Ben Hendriks scored a career-best 14 points in Saturday's triumph over the Bulls.

Hendriks was efficient in doing so, going 6-for-8 from the field and making both free throw attempts in 11 minutes of playing time.

CLOSE CONTESTS WITH THE ZIPS: The most recent four games between Ball State and Akron have been decided by single digits, including the Feb. 4 meeting at Akron when the Cardinals trailed by two points with five minutes to play before the host Zips claimed an 81-73 decision.

The Zips escaped with an 80-76 win on Jan. 9, 2024 at Worthen Arena after each home team won in the 2023 season. The Cardinals won 70-63 on Jan. 6, while Akron won 87-83 on Feb. 28 at James A. Rhodes Arena.

CARDIAC CARDS: The Cardinals had played in four straight games decided by one point or in overtime following last Tuesday night's 67-66 setback at Toledo.

The last time the Ball State men's basketball team had such a stretch was late in the 2008-09 season when they had a one-point game at Northern Illinois and overtime contests against Western, Eastern and Central Michigan. This year's Cardinals are 5-2 in games decided by four points or fewer.

BACK-TO-BACK OVERTIME GAMES: Ball State beat Eastern Michigan (86-84) on Feb. 11 and Northern Illinois (89-83) on Feb. 15 in overtime.

The men's basketball team last played back-to-back overtime games in late January of 2018 at Kent State and vs Akron. The most recent time Ball State has won two straight games that both went to overtime was in 2017 when the Cardinals won 81-72 at Northern Illinois on Feb. 14 and 109-100 at Central Michigan on Feb. 18.

GORO-THREE-TO: Junior guard Juanse Gorosito put up a season-best 24 points, making 5 of 8 3-pointers, in Ball State's 89-83 overtime win over Northern Illinois on Feb. 15.

Gorosito has now made multiple triples in 19 games this season and ranks fourth in the conference in 3-pointers made (67) and first in shooting percentage (42.1) from distance among among those who've made at least two per game. The Argentina native is one 3-pointer shy of 200 for his collegiate career.

LOVING THE LINE: The Cardinals had season-bests in both free throws made (34) and attempted (50) on Feb. 15 vs NIU.

The previous season highs for Ball State at the line occurred on Nov. 16 against Indiana State when the Cardinals went 33-for-46 on free throws.

FATT WITH THE FLUSH: Junior guard Jermahri Hill had a highlight reel game-winning two-hand slam dunk with 2.8 seconds on the clock in Ball State's 86-84 overtime win over Eastern Michigan on Feb. 11 at Worthen Arena.

Hill took the ball coast-to-coast for the jam which was featured as the No. 6 play on SportsCenter's Top 10 segment. The Bessemer, Ala., native led the Cardinals with 21 points, eight rebounds and a season-best seven assists.

TRIO OF 1,000 POINT SCORERS: Jeremiah Hernandez became the third Ball State men's basketball player of the season to amass 1,000 career points when he hit the milestone early in the second half on Feb. 11 vs Eastern Michigan.

Sparks secured his 1,000th point on New Year's Eve before Mickey Pearson Jr., hit the mark on Feb. 8.

MOVING UP THE RECORD BOOK: Sparks (742 career rebounds at Ball State) passed Franko House (741) Saturday afternoon against Buffalo to move up the Ball State record book for career boards.

Bonzi Wells (843 career rebounds) is 7th on the list.

GETTING FAMILIAR WITH THE FREE THROW LINE: Sparks (191) and Hill (181) are first and second in the league in free throw attempts, respectively.

The two also are tied for second in the conference in free throws made at 121. Sparks ranks No. 17 nationally in free throw attempts, while Hill is No. 26 in NCAA Division I.

GETTING TO THE LINE: The Cardinals pace the Mid-American Conference in both free throw attempts per game (27.0) and free throws made per game (18.9) through the season's first 27 games.

Ball State ranks No. 4 and No. 8 in those categories in NCAA Division I, respectively. The total tallies (728 attempts and 509 makes) outpace the next-closest MAC team (Toledo) by 160 attempts and 91 makes.

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.

Cardinals Hosting League-Leading Akron Tuesday Night

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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