Men's Basketball Set for Saturday Battle at Toledo

Saturday, January 31

Toledo, Ohio

Noon

Ball State University

Toledo

Photo by: Sam Findley/Ball State Athletics

January 30, 2026 | Men's Basketball

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Cardinals Riding Three-Game Winning Streak into Noon Contest with Rockets

The Ball State men's basketball team rides a three-game winning streak to Toledo for a Saturday battle with the Rockets.

The noon tipoff in Northwest Ohio 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 (7-13, 3-5 Mid-American Conference) got 18 points each from Davion Hill and Armoni Zeigler on its way to a 58-53 win against Northern Illinois last Saturday afternoon. The Cardinals beat Central Michigan (Jan. 20) and Ohio (Jan. 16) earlier as part of the trio of consecutive wins.

Toledo (11-10, 5-4 MAC) fell 91-81 at Akron on Tuesday night a game after topping Bowling Green 73-72 at home last Saturday. The Rockets began conference play 3-0 with wins over Western Michigan, Central Michigan and Northern Illinois.

Tod Kowalczyk is in his 16^th season as the head coach at Toledo. The Rockets were picked sixth in the 13-team MAC preseason poll a season after going 18-15 (10-8 MAC) for a tie for fourth place in the final regular season standings.

Toledo paces the league in free throw shooting (77.9 percent, No. 16 in NCAA Division I) and fewest fouls per game (15.0, No. 21) while ranking third in fastbreak points (14.3 per game) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.47).

Guards Sonny Wilson and Leroy Blyden Jr., have the 7^th and 10^th best scoring averages in the conference at 17.1 and 16.3 points per game, respectively. Wilson plays about 36 minutes a game which is the second-most in the MAC and 21^st in Division I. Senior forward Sean Craig posts 12.4 points and 8.0 rebounds per game (third in the league).

Next up for the Cardinals is a Tuesday night game at Bowling Green.

CARDINALS COMING THROUGH IN THE CLUTCH: Ball State's three-game winning streak has featured a trio of close contests that the Cardinals claimed in the final seconds.

Most recently, Ball State beat Northern Illinois 58-53 at home last Saturday after a 68-67 decision at Central Michigan on Jan. 20. The successful stretch started with a 76-71 victory over Ohio on Jan. 16.

WINNING WITH DEFENSE: Ball State's win against NIU was the first time the Cardinals have won a game scoring fewer than 60 points since Dec. 21, 2022 against Georgia Southern (58-54).

The last time the program had won a conference game without reaching the 60-point mark was Feb. 16, 2019 vs Akron (57-56).

HILL BIG OFF THE BENCH: Guard Davion Hill scored or assisted on the final 11 points in Ball State's 58-53 win against Northern Illinois last Saturday, finishing the game with team bests in points (18), rebounds (eight) and assists (three).

The strong finish came a game after the Williamsport, Pa., native drove to the lane and finished through contact for the game-winning and-one in Ball State's 68-67 win at Central Michigan on Jan. 21.

The redshirt sophomore tallied 15 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals on the night in Mount Pleasant and has scored in double figures in six straight games.

Hill ranks second on the team in average points both overall (12.6 per game) and in MAC play (15.5) while shooting 51.7 percent from the field against conference opponents.

ZEIGLER GETTING STRONGER: Junior Armoni Zeigler led the Cardinals in points, rebounds and assists in consecutive games leading up to last Saturday's battle vs NIU before tying for a game-high with 18 points and tying a career high with four 3-pointers against the Huskies.

Zeigler averages 17.8 points and 5.0 rebounds a game in MAC play compared to 10.2 points and 4.8 rebounds in the non-conference season. The guard is eighth in the league in scoring and ninth in free throw percentage (86.4) in conference action.

The Amityville, N.Y., native scored a career high 30 points on Jan. 13 at Akron and was the first Cardinal since Jarron Coleman with 30+ points in a game (33 on March 11, 2021 vs Toledo). It was only the fourth 30-point game for a Ball State player in the last nine seasons.

BARNES MAKING BUCKETS: Devon Barnes tied a career high with five 3-pointers on Jan. 20 at CMU on his way to 17 points.

The senior drained four of those triples in the second half to help the Cardinals stave off a comeback attempt from the Chippewas. Barnes is shooting 34.2 percent (13-38) from distance in conference play and 85.2 percent (23-27) at the foul line.

TURNOVER TALK: Ball State committed only eight turnovers in last Saturday's triumph vs Northern Illinois a game after limiting giveaways to a season-low five in the win at Central Michigan.

Seven giveaways was the previous season-low on four separate occasions before the game with the Chippewas, and Ball State is the top conference team in turnover margin (+3.4) and taking care of the ball (8.6 turnovers per game) against MAC foes.

TV CHANGES GAME DAY: Ball State's home game against Akron originally scheduled for Feb. 21 has been picked up by CBS Sports Network and will now be played at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 20 at Worthen Arena.

The Cardinals topped Ohio 76-71 on Jan. 16 in another Friday night conference contest aired on CBSSN in Muncie.

FINE FROM THE LINE: Ball State hit north of 80 percent of its free throw attempts in three of its last seven games, going 25-for-31 (80.6 percent) in the Jan. 16 win over Ohio. The Cardinals went 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 better than 85 percent 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 77.1 percent in eight games against MAC foes as opposed to 64.8 percent in 12 games with non-conference opponents. The Cardinals are fourth in the league in free throw percentage in conference games.

DOUBLE DIGIT STEALS: Ball State collected 10 steals on Jan. 10 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. Ball State has collected 56 more steals than its opponents this season (154-98).

CARDINALS CLAMPING DOWN ON DEFENSE: Ball State paces the Mid-American Conference in scoring defense (69.8 points per game) while ranking second in fewest fouls committed per game (15.7) and fourth in steals per game (7.7) through the season's first 20 contests.