Men's Basketball Falls in Sunday Exhibition Opener at Purdue

Sunday, October 18

West Lafayette, Ind.

2 PM

Ball State University

Purdue

Sean Blake in a black Ball State basketball uniform dribbling

Photo by: Sam Findley/Ball State Athletics

Men's Basketball Falls in Sunday Exhibition Opener at Purdue

October 18, 2026 | Men's Basketball

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Ball State men's basketball team had a strong start to the second half and was in contention halfway through the period but fell 87-55 to Purdue in its exhibition opener on Sunday afternoon at Mackey Arena.

After going into halftime trailing 49-33, the Cardinals got layups from K'Jei Parker and Sean Blake sandwiched around a pair of free throws by Trey Lewis to form a 6-0 scoring run and cut the deficit to 59-44 with 11:24 to play, but the host Boilermakers took control from there in the exhibition contest leading up to the regular season.

Blake paced Ball State with 16 points, while Mason Jones added 12 points and five rebounds in the in-state matchup, which was the first between the two programs since 2018. Trey Lewis and Kai McGrew
contributed seven points each in their first competition wearing a Ball State uniform.

The visiting Cardinals rode a 7-0 run late in the first half on a layup by Blake and a 3-pointer and free throws from Jones to cut Purdue's lead to 45-33, but the hosts scored the final four points of the opening period to take the 16-point advantage into the break.

Junior guards Gicarri Harris (16 points) and C.J. Cox (15) led the Purdue offense for the afternoon.

Ball State returns home to host an exhibition with Purdue Fort Wayne at 7 p.m. on Oct. 28 for the final tune-up before the regular season opener on Nov. 2 at Georgia Southern.