Men's Basketball Back Home to Host Buffalo on Wednesday Night

Wednesday, February 11

Muncie, Ind.

7 PM

Ball State University

Buffalo

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Photo by: Samantha (Blankenship) Ellis/Ball State University

Men's Basketball Back Home to Host Buffalo on Wednesday Night

February 10, 2026 | Men's Basketball

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Ball State Men's Basketball
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The Ball State men's basketball team returns home and to Mid-American Conference play for a 7 p.m. Wednesday night game against Buffalo at Worthen Arena.

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, tickets and live stats can be found above and on the schedule page.

Ball State (8-15, 3-7 MAC) got a career high 17 points from Kayden Fish on its way to a 73-68 win at Louisiana Monroe on Saturday afternoon in the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge.

Buffalo (14-10, 4-7 MAC) fell 81-69 at South Alabama on Saturday in its most recent game and has lost 8 of 9 games after an 8-0 start to the season.

George Halcovage III is in his third season in charge of the Bulls, who were picked to finish 11^th in the MAC preseason poll after going 9-22 (4-14) last season.

The Bulls rank second in the league and No. 11 in NCAA Division I in 3-point shooting (38.8 percent) while ranking third in the MAC and No. 25 nationally in effective field goal percentage (56.6). Buffalo is second and fourth in the MAC, respectively, in turnovers per game (10.9) and field goal percentage (47.7).

Sophomore guard Daniel Freitag averages the second-most points per game (20.0) in the league but didn't play on Saturday. Junior guard Ryan Sabol averages 18.2 points a game (fifth in the MAC) and leads the league in 3-pointers made per game at 3.5, which is the 10^th-most nationally.

Ball State is set to stay home to host Kent State on Saturday at 2 p.m.

REMATCH WITH THE BULLS: Ball State looks for revenge against Buffalo following an 85-72 setback to the Bulls on Jan. 3 in the MAC road opener for the Cardinals.

This will be Ball State's first time playing an opponent for the second time this season. The only two teams in the conference the Cardinals have yet to face are Kent State and Western Michigan.

FISH FINDING HIS WAY: Forward Kayden Fish went for a team and career high 17 points and collected six rebounds in Saturday's 73-68 win at Louisiana Monroe.

The redshirt sophomore shot 6-for-10 from the field and 5-for-6 on free throws while playing in a season-most 30 minutes. Fish bumped his season averages to 7.5 points and 3.4 rebounds a game with the performance.

BENCH GETTING BUCKETS: Led by Fish's 17 points on Saturday, the Ball State bench scored more than half the team's points with 38 in the win against the Warhawks.

Davion Hill added 14, and Juwan Maxey chipped in seven for the team averaging the fourth-most bench points per game in the MAC (26.4).

SUCCESS OVER THE SUN BELT: Ball State's win at Louisiana Monroe on Saturday clinched the Cardinals' first sweep of the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge, which is in its third season.

A 75-64 win over Louisiana in the season opener was the first leg in the two-game event. Ball State is now 3-0 at home and 1-2 on the road in the Challenge and was one of only three MAC teams to win on Saturday against Sun Belt opponents.

The Cardinals became the first team in the series history with the Warhawks to win on the road, as both teams entered the contest 2-0 at home for a 2-2 split.

LOT OF LEADING SCORERS: Only three teams in NCAA Division I (George Washington, Tarleton State and VCU) feature more different leading scorers in games this season than Ball State's eight.

Armoni Zeigler (eight), Davion Hill (five), Devon Barnes (three), Kayden Fish (two), Joey Hart (two), Elmore James IV (two), Juwan Maxey (two), and Preston Copeland (one) have all led the Cardinals in scoring in at least one game this season.

MILESTONE WATCH: Senior guards Devon Barnes and Juwan Maxey are approaching career scoring milestones in their respective NCAA Division I careers.

Barnes is 20 points away from reaching 1,000, while Maxey needs 13 to hit the 500-point mark.

WINNING WITH DEFENSE: Ball State's 58-53 win against Northern Illinois on Jan. 24 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 win against Northern Illinois on Jan. 24, 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.

Hill ranks second on the team in average points both overall (12.3 per game) and in MAC play (14.2) while shooting 49.5 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 the Jan. 24 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 16.6 points and 5.2 rebounds a game in MAC play compared to 10.2 points and 4.9 rebounds in the non-conference season. The guard is tenth in the league in scoring and eighth in free throw percentage (82.3) 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.

TURNOVER TALK: Ball State committed only eight turnovers in the Jan. 24 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 (+2.9) and taking care of the ball (9.2 turnovers per game) against MAC foes. The Cardinals also give away the fewest turnovers per game in the league overall for the full season (10.7).

Ball State kept control of the ball at Bowling Green, giving up only 10 turnovers to a team that averaged more than 16 turnovers forced per game entering the contest for the sixth-most in NCAA Division I.

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.

CARDINALS CLAMPING DOWN ON DEFENSE: Ball State leads the Mid-American Conference in scoring defense (70.1 points per game) and ranks second in fewest fouls committed per game (15.7) and fourth in steals per game (7.7) through the season's first 23 contests.