Men's Basketball Remains on the Road for Tuesday Night Game at Akron

Tuesday, January 13

Akron, Ohio

7 PM

Ball State University

Akron

Photo by: Sam Findley/Ball State Athletics

Men's Basketball Remains on the Road for Tuesday Night Game at Akron

January 12, 2026 | Men's Basketball

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The Ball State men's basketball team remains on the road to face Akron at 7 p.m. on Tuesday night in northeast Ohio.

The contest will be broadcast on ESPN+, while Mick Tidrow and David Eha handle the radio call on WMUN 92.5 FM / 1340 AM and on the WMUN app. Links to both broadcasts and live stats can be found above and on the schedule page.

Ball State (4-12, 0-4 Mid-American Conference) led with under 14 minutes to play but fell 79-71 at UMass on Saturday afternoon in its most recent contest.

Akron (12-4, 3-1 MAC) has won two games in a row including a 77-67 decision on Friday night at Bowling Green. The Zips enter Tuesday's battle undefeated this season (8-0) at James A. Rhodes Arena (overall 24-game winning streak at home).

John Groce is in his ninth season as the head coach at Akron, who is the two-time defending MAC Tournament champion.

The Zips pace the league in assists per game (20.6, No. 4 in NCAA Division I), assist-to-turnover ratio (1.88, No. 8) and scoring offense (93.4 points per game, No. 7) while also ranking in the Top 10 nationally in field goal percentage (52.2, No. 5) and effective field goal percentage (60.1, No. 7).

Senior guard Tavari Johnson leads MAC in scoring (19.6 points per game) and field goals made (119, No. 18 nationally) and ranks third in the league in assists per game (5.4). Fellow senior Evan Mahaffey paces the league in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.33) while ranking third in steals per game (2.0).

Ball State next returns home to host Ohio at 8:30 p.m. on Friday.

CLOSE CLASHES WITH THE ZIPS: Ball State and Akron's last five meetings have resulted in no more than an eight-point margin of victory, including three games that were within five points.

Akron took the most recent matchup 87-82 in Muncie last Feb. 25. The string of close contests dates back to a 70-63 win for the Cardinals on Jan. 6, 2023.

HILL GETS HOT: Guard Davion Hill led the Cardinals in scoring (22 points) and rebounding (seven) on Saturday at UMass, with 18 of those points coming in the second half.

The redshirt sophomore hit three 3-pointers in the last four minutes of the contest and leads Ball State in average points both overall (11.6 per game) and in MAC play (14.3) while shooting 52.6 percent from the field and from distance against conference opponents.

EFFICIENT ELMORE: Senior guard Elmore James IV scored in double figures in four straight games including 13 points on Jan. 6 against Eastern Michigan.

Ball State's most experienced Mid-American Conference veteran has stepped up his production in MAC play as he is averaging 12.3 points per game on 42.5 percent (17-40) shooting from the field and has made each of his eight free throw attempts.

FINE FROM THE LINE: Ball State hit north of 80 percent of its free throw attempts in two straight games recently, going 13-for-15 (86.7 percent) from the line on Jan. 6 vs Eastern Michigan a game after making 82.6 percent (19-23) of its free throw attempts the previous Saturday at Buffalo.

The most recent time the Cardinals shot that well from the foul line was March 4, 2025 against Central Michigan with a 91.7 percent (11-12) mark. Ball State's last game shooting over 80 percent from the line on at least 20 attempts before the game with Buffalo was Feb. 11, 2025 in an overtime win against Eastern Michigan (89.3 percent, 25-for-28).

Ball State has picked up its shooting at the charity stripe in conference play, going 79.7 percent in four games against MAC foes as opposed to 64.8 percent in 12 games with nonconference opponents.

TV GAME AT WORTHEN ARENA: The game against Ohio originally scheduled for Jan. 17 in Muncie has been moved to 8:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 16 due to it being aired on CBS Sports Network.

Ball State's most recent home MAC game on a Friday was back on March 3, 2023 against Toledo in a game that was also broadcast on CBS Sports Network.

MAC-SBC MATCHUP ANNOUNCED: Ball State will face Louisiana Monroe on Saturday, Feb. 7 in the second leg of the MAC-Sun Belt Conference.

The Cardinals faced the other Sun Belt team from the Bayou State in the season opener, as they beat the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns 75-64 on Nov. 3 in Muncie.

HISTORIC NIGHT: Ball State held an opponent to 30 points or fewer for the first time in almost 80 years in the 93-30 win over Earlham on Dec. 29.

The last time the Cardinals limited a team to that low of a scoring output was in a Jan. 14, 1946 win at Wabash (37-30). Ball State's most recent home game preventing a team from surpassing the 30-point threshold was on Jan. 20, 1945 in a 47-24 decision against Anderson.

Ball State's 63-point margin of victory over the Quakers was the highest since a 70-point decision on Nov. 7, 2022 against Earlham as well (109-39).

YOUNG GUYS WITH CAREER HIGHS: A trio of underclassmen set career highs in the Dec. 29 win against Earlham.

Freshman Preston Copeland went for 18 points on 8-for-10 shooting from the field, while sophomore Kody Clancy posted collegiate bests in points (11) and assists (five). Freshman forward Easton Foster tallied six points and four rebounds in a career-high 12 minutes of playing time.

BENCH SCORING IN BUNCHES: Ball State's bench scored a season-high 48 points against Miami on Dec. 20, surpassing the 40-point mark in bench scoring for the second time this season (44 vs Le Moyne). The Cardinals' bench did this a third time when it produced 44 points vs Earlham.

James IV (20 points) scored nearly half of those against Miami followed by Kayden Fish (10), Armoni Zeigler (7), Juwan Maxey (7) and Jai Anthoni Bearden (4).

DOUBLE DIGIT STEALS: Ball State collected 10 steals on Saturday at UMass, making it the fifth time this season the Cardinals have had 10+ steals in a game.

Ball State also had double figures in that category against Mansfield (11) and Little Rock (10) in November and Evansville and South Dakota State in December. This is the first time since the 2019-20 season that the Cardinals have had four non-conference games with 10+ steals.

CARDINALS CLAMPING DOWN ON DEFENSE: Ball State is first in the Mid-American Conference in scoring defense (69.8 points per game), second in fewest fouls committed per game (15.9) and third in steals per game (7.9) and turnovers forced per game (13.8) through the season's first 16 contests.

WELCOME TO THE MAC: Ball State played league newcomer UMass on Saturday for the first of two games in the first season in the league for the Minutemen.

UMass makes the return trip to Worthen Arena for a game on Tuesday, Feb. 24. The two teams had faced off only once prior to this year, in an 89-86 Ball State win on Nov. 21, 2021 in St. Petersburg, Fla.