Ball State University Athletics
Monday, November 2
Statesboro, Ga.
7 PM
Ball State University
at
Georgia Southern
Photo by: Maddox Morgan / Ball State Athletics
November 01, 2026 | Men's Basketball
The Ball State men's basketball team begins the 2026-27 regular season with a Monday night game at Georgia Southern.
The 7 p.m. contest in Statesboro will be streamed on ESPN+ with Danny Waugh and Blane Baiallargeon on the call, while Mick Tidrow and David Eha handle the radio broadcast on WMUN 92.5 FM /1340 AM. Links to both broadcasts and live stats can be found above and on the schedule page.
Ball State played exhibitions at Purdue and at home vs Purdue Fort Wayne leading up to Monday's opener. Georgia Southern had exhibition matchups at Furman and vs Winthrop in October.
The two teams have recent history playing in both the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, with the home team winning each time. Ball State claimed a 58-54 win on Dec. 21, 2022 in Muncie after an 82-71 Georgia Southern decision on Nov. 9, 2021 in Statesboro.
The Eagles enter their fourth season under the direction of head coach Charlie Henry. Georgia Southern was picked ninth in the recently released 14-team Sun Belt Conference preseason poll after going 21-16 (8-10 SBC) last season. The Eagles won five games as the No. 10 seed in the SBC Tournament in making a run to the title game before falling to No. 1 seed Troy.
Guard Dallas Gardner was named to the preseason All-Sun Belt second team after transferring in from UNC-Pembroke following the 2024-25 season.
Ball State's home regular season opener is set for Friday night against Indiana State at Worthen Arena.
CAPKO'S CARDINALS: Chris Capko was named the 21st head coach in Ball State men's basketball history back in March after most recently serving as associate head coach on Andy Enfield's staff at SMU.
The Florida native spent a total of 12 seasons on Enfield's staffs at USC and SMU including the most recent five as the associate head coach.
EDGE ON EXPERIENCE: The Ball State men's basketball roster features 12 players in their junior year or later along with freshmen Kamden McGilveary and Kai McGrew.
A total of seven Cardinals are in at least their fourth year of college.
FINE WITH COMING HOME: Junior guard Aaron Fine attended many Ball State basketball games growing up in Muncie before moving to Noblesville for high school.
Fine's first contest in a Ball State uniform, an exhibition at Purdue on Oct. 18, was also be a homecoming of sorts, as he was at Purdue for his first two collegiate seasons.
I KNOW YOU: Capko has known UMass transfer guard K'Jei Parker his entire life.
Both Florida natives, Capko is good friends with Parker's dad Kevis and even held K'Jei when he was a baby.
BACK FOR MORE: Senior Mason Jones has played the third-most minutes at a MAC school among players on 2026-27 season rosters entering the campaign.
The 2,192 career minutes trail only Ohio forward Javan Simmons and UMass guard/forward Jayden Ndijigue. Simmons transferred from Toledo after two seasons, and UMass has only been in the MAC for one season, so Jones has played the most minutes at the same MAC school among players on active rosters.
CARDINALS HEADING DOWN TO GEORGIA: Monday's game at Georgia Southern will be the second contest in the Peach State in the last three seasons for Ball State, as the 2024-25 team began the season playing at Georgia State.
The matchup with the Eagles begins the fourth season of the MAC-SBC Challenge, which features battles between Mid-American Conference and Sun Belt Conference teams. Ball State is 4-2 in the series including a 2-0 mark last season after beating both Louisiana and Louisiana Monroe. The contest in Statesboro will be the fourth road game in the series for the Cardinals after previously playing at Louisiana Monroe (Feb. 7, 2026), Georgia State (Nov. 4, 2024) and Texas State (Feb. 10, 2024).
In-State Rivalries: Wednesday's exhibition vs Purdue Fort Wayne was the second of five scheduled contests this season against teams from the state of Indiana for the Cardinals.
In addition to the Oct. 18 exhibition at Purdue, Ball State also has regular season games against Indiana State (Nov. 6) and Evansville (Dec. 8) at home and USI (Nov. 28) on the road.
MORE MACTION: The Mid-American Conference slate jumped from 18 to 22 games in advance of the 2026-27 season.
The MAC is at 12 teams after Northern Illinois left for the Horizon League, and each team will play a true double round robin with home and away games against every other team.
CANADA CONNECTION: Sean Blake, Babatunde Durodola and assistant coach Manny Dosanjh are all from the Toronto area.
Blake and Durodola will be Ball State's first Canadian players since Ben Hendriks (2019-25). Both Blake and Hendriks have the same hometown of Mississauga.
The 7 p.m. contest in Statesboro will be streamed on ESPN+ with Danny Waugh and Blane Baiallargeon on the call, while Mick Tidrow and David Eha handle the radio broadcast on WMUN 92.5 FM /1340 AM. Links to both broadcasts and live stats can be found above and on the schedule page.
Ball State played exhibitions at Purdue and at home vs Purdue Fort Wayne leading up to Monday's opener. Georgia Southern had exhibition matchups at Furman and vs Winthrop in October.
The two teams have recent history playing in both the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, with the home team winning each time. Ball State claimed a 58-54 win on Dec. 21, 2022 in Muncie after an 82-71 Georgia Southern decision on Nov. 9, 2021 in Statesboro.
The Eagles enter their fourth season under the direction of head coach Charlie Henry. Georgia Southern was picked ninth in the recently released 14-team Sun Belt Conference preseason poll after going 21-16 (8-10 SBC) last season. The Eagles won five games as the No. 10 seed in the SBC Tournament in making a run to the title game before falling to No. 1 seed Troy.
Guard Dallas Gardner was named to the preseason All-Sun Belt second team after transferring in from UNC-Pembroke following the 2024-25 season.
Ball State's home regular season opener is set for Friday night against Indiana State at Worthen Arena.
CAPKO'S CARDINALS: Chris Capko was named the 21st head coach in Ball State men's basketball history back in March after most recently serving as associate head coach on Andy Enfield's staff at SMU.
The Florida native spent a total of 12 seasons on Enfield's staffs at USC and SMU including the most recent five as the associate head coach.
EDGE ON EXPERIENCE: The Ball State men's basketball roster features 12 players in their junior year or later along with freshmen Kamden McGilveary and Kai McGrew.
A total of seven Cardinals are in at least their fourth year of college.
FINE WITH COMING HOME: Junior guard Aaron Fine attended many Ball State basketball games growing up in Muncie before moving to Noblesville for high school.
Fine's first contest in a Ball State uniform, an exhibition at Purdue on Oct. 18, was also be a homecoming of sorts, as he was at Purdue for his first two collegiate seasons.
I KNOW YOU: Capko has known UMass transfer guard K'Jei Parker his entire life.
Both Florida natives, Capko is good friends with Parker's dad Kevis and even held K'Jei when he was a baby.
BACK FOR MORE: Senior Mason Jones has played the third-most minutes at a MAC school among players on 2026-27 season rosters entering the campaign.
The 2,192 career minutes trail only Ohio forward Javan Simmons and UMass guard/forward Jayden Ndijigue. Simmons transferred from Toledo after two seasons, and UMass has only been in the MAC for one season, so Jones has played the most minutes at the same MAC school among players on active rosters.
CARDINALS HEADING DOWN TO GEORGIA: Monday's game at Georgia Southern will be the second contest in the Peach State in the last three seasons for Ball State, as the 2024-25 team began the season playing at Georgia State.
The matchup with the Eagles begins the fourth season of the MAC-SBC Challenge, which features battles between Mid-American Conference and Sun Belt Conference teams. Ball State is 4-2 in the series including a 2-0 mark last season after beating both Louisiana and Louisiana Monroe. The contest in Statesboro will be the fourth road game in the series for the Cardinals after previously playing at Louisiana Monroe (Feb. 7, 2026), Georgia State (Nov. 4, 2024) and Texas State (Feb. 10, 2024).
In-State Rivalries: Wednesday's exhibition vs Purdue Fort Wayne was the second of five scheduled contests this season against teams from the state of Indiana for the Cardinals.
In addition to the Oct. 18 exhibition at Purdue, Ball State also has regular season games against Indiana State (Nov. 6) and Evansville (Dec. 8) at home and USI (Nov. 28) on the road.
MORE MACTION: The Mid-American Conference slate jumped from 18 to 22 games in advance of the 2026-27 season.
The MAC is at 12 teams after Northern Illinois left for the Horizon League, and each team will play a true double round robin with home and away games against every other team.
CANADA CONNECTION: Sean Blake, Babatunde Durodola and assistant coach Manny Dosanjh are all from the Toronto area.
Blake and Durodola will be Ball State's first Canadian players since Ben Hendriks (2019-25). Both Blake and Hendriks have the same hometown of Mississauga.
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