Men's Basketball Preparing for Tuesday Night Game at Bowling Green

Tuesday, February 3

Bowling Green, Ohio

7 PM

Ball State University

Bowling Green

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

Men's Basketball Preparing for Tuesday Night Game at Bowling Green

February 02, 2026 | Men's Basketball

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The Ball State men's basketball team is set for its second of three games in a row on the road when the Cardinals play at Bowling Green on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

The game 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 (7-14, 3-6 Mid-American Conference) got a career best 14 points from Kayden Fish but saw its three-game winning streak snapped with a 73-55 defeat at Toledo on Saturday afternoon.

Bowling Green (13-9, 4-6 MAC) is on a three-game losing skid, most recently suffering a 62-59 loss at Central Michigan on Saturday night.

Todd Simon is in his third season in charge at Bowling Green, who went 14-18 (8-10 MAC) last season and was projected to finish seventh in the preseason poll. The Falcons claimed a win over a Big 12 opponent on Dec. 1 with an 82-66 decision at Kansas State.

Bowling Green likes to pressure the ball and get out in transition, ranking third and sixth in NCAA Division I, respectively, in steals per game (10.9) and fastbreak points (18.7 per game). The Falcons are sixth nationally in turnovers forced per game (16.5) and eighth in turnover margin (+4.9).

Senior guard Javontae Campbell is the national leader in steals per game (3.23) and total steals (71) while ranking second in the MAC in total points (424), third in points per game (19.3) and fourth in assists per game (5.0).

Ball State concludes the three-game road stretch with a Saturday afternoon contest at Louisiana Monroe for the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge.

FISH FINDING HIS SHOT: Forward Kayden Fish posted a career best 14 points on Saturday at Toledo while adding five rebounds.

The redshirt sophomore went 5-for-12 from the field and 4-for-6 on free throws and needed only 15 minutes of court time to get to the 14 points.

BEARDEN BRINGING THE ENERGY: Jai Anthoni Bearden needed only six minutes and one shot attempt from the field to get to a career high seven points on Saturday.

The redshirt freshman hit a 3-pointer and made each of his four free throws on the afternoon.

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

Barnes is 27 points away from reaching 1,000, while Maxey needs 25 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, 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 (12.1 per game) and in MAC play (14.1) while shooting 49.1 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 17.2 points and 5.4 rebounds a game in MAC play compared to 10.2 points and 4.8 rebounds in the non-conference season. The guard is tenth in the league in scoring and eighth in free throw percentage (83.9) 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.

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 has hit north of 70 percent of its free throw attempts in seven of its last eight 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 previous to the Eastern Michigan game 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 76.1 percent in nine 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 (69.9 points per game) while ranking second in fewest fouls committed per game (15.5) and fifth in steals per game (7.6) through the season's first 21 contests.