Men's Basketball Hosting Central Michigan Friday for Senior Day

Friday, March 6

Muncie, Ind.

7 PM

Ball State University

Central Michigan

Buy Tickets

Photo by: Heather Parker

Men's Basketball Hosting Central Michigan Friday for Senior Day

March 05, 2026 | Men's Basketball

Tickets Watch Listen Live Stats

Ball State Men's Basketball
Game 31 vs. Central Michigan	Friday, March 6 at 7 p.m. Live Stats \| ESPN+ \| Listen
Tickets and Gameday Info	Purchase Tickets Here \| Gameday A-to-Z Guide
Game Notes and Media Info	Ball State \| Central Michigan
Social Media	X \| Instagram \| Facebook

The Ball State men's basketball team is set to conclude the season with a 7 p.m. Friday night game against Central Michigan at Worthen Arena. Fans are encouraged to arrive early for a pregame Senior Day ceremony.

Mick Tidrow and David Eha will be on the ESPN+ broadcast, while Mark Foerster and Scot Bunnell 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 (11-19, 6-11 Mid-American Conference) has won three games in a row after a 74-71 overtime decision at Western Michigan on Tuesday night behind 28 points from Armoni Zeigler.

Central Michigan (10-20, 6-11 MAC) fell 77-64 to Akron at home on Tuesday but is still in contention for a bid in next week's MAC Tournament. The Chippewas need to win Friday and have Buffalo lose at Toledo to clinch the bid.

Andy Bronkema is in his first season as the CMU head coach after 12 years at NCAA Division II Ferris State. The Chippewas were picked to finish 12^th in the conference preseason coaches poll.

Central is the top MAC team in blocks per game (4.3) and ranks 10^th in scoring offense (73.5 points per game) and seventh in scoring defense (76.6 points per game) in the league.

Senior guard Tamario Adley paces the Chippewas with 12.9 points a game followed by senior center Nathan Claerbaut's 12.2 points, 5.5 rebounds and MAC high 2.1 blocks per game.

CARDIAC CARDINALS: Ball State trailed by four points with under 15 seconds to play but forced overtime thanks to a 3-pointer and layup from Armoni Zeigler in Tuesday night's 74-71 win at Western Michigan.

The Cardinals also beat UMass in an extra session on Feb. 24 and have won their last four games that went to overtime (2-0 in 2024-25 season).

ZEIGLER STUFFS THE STAT SHEET: Junior guard Armoni Zeigler tallied 28 points, seven rebounds and a career best eight assists to help the Cardinals beat the Broncos on Tuesday.

The game was Zeigler's third this year with 28 or more points following 30 at Akron (Jan. 13) and 28 in the win against Ohio (Jan. 16).

RALLYING ON THE ROAD: Ball State has won back-to-back road games for this first time this season and has gone 4-3 in the last seven games away from Worthen Arena.

The Cardinals won tight games by five or fewer points in three of those contests, with the exception being a 79-43 blowout at Northern Illinois.

HOUNDING THE HUSKIES: Ball State's 43 points allowed in the 79-43 win last Saturday at Northern Illinois were the fewest the men's basketball team has allowed against a Mid-American Conference opponent since March 11, 2019 in a 61-43 win against Eastern Michigan.

The 36-point margin of victory was the largest against a MAC foe for the Cardinals since a 115-79 decision vs EMU on Feb. 27, 2016.

Ball State gave up only 96 total points to the Huskies in the two-game season series including a 58-53 win against Northern Illinois on Jan. 24. That was the first time the Cardinals had 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).

STRONG START TO THE SECOND HALF: Ball State started the second half of Saturday's win over Northern Illinois on a 21-0 scoring run to take a 57-29 lead with 13 minutes to play.

The stretch was Ball State's best against an NCAA Division I foe this season following a 15-0 run at Central Michigan on Jan. 20. The Cardinals started the game against Earlham on Dec. 29 up 33-0.

HILL TO THE HOOP: Guard Davion Hill led the Cardinals in points (17), rebounds (six) and assists (season best seven) at NIU a game after going for a season high 26 points in last Tuesday night's 74-73 overtime win against UMass.

The 26-point performance included an 11-for-11 showing at the free throw line, which was the first 100 percent effort at the foul line for a Cardinal this season shooting more than six free throws. Hill has now scored in double figures in nine straight games and 13 of the last 14 and leads the team in average points overall (13.6 per game) and in MAC play (15.7).

FIRST TIME IN A LONG TIME FOR OVERTIME: The Ball State men's basketball program went 33 games between overtime contests before the 74-73 win over UMass on Feb. 24 featuring an extra session.

The Cardinals' last overtime game before that was an 89-83 win against Northern Illinois on Feb. 15, 2025.

FIVE IN DOUBLE FIGURES: Ball State got five scorers in double figures for the second straight game in Saturday's win at NIU.

Hill paced the Cardinals with 17 points followed by Armoni Zeigler (13 points), Elmore James IV (12), Kayden Fish (12) and Devon Barnes (11).

Four Cardinals scored 10 points each in the overtime win over UMass on Feb. 24 to join Hill (26) in double figures.

MILESTONES MET: Senior guards Devon Barnes and Juwan Maxey hit career scoring milestones in their respective NCAA Division I careers on Feb. 14 against Kent State.

Barnes joined the 1,000-point club on a free throw late in the first half, and Maxey made a layup early in the second half to hit the 500-point mark.

BENCH GETTING BUCKETS: Led by Kayden Fish's 17 points at Louisiana Monroe, 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 (25.5).

SUCCESS OVER THE SUN BELT: Ball State's win at Louisiana Monroe on Feb. 7 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.

TURNOVER TALK: Ball State committed only seven turnovers in last Saturday's win at Northern Illinois, which was the fifth game this season giving away seven or fewer turnovers (season low five at Central Michigan on Jan. 20).

Ball State is the top conference team in taking care of the ball (9.7 turnovers per game) and turnover margin (+2.4) against MAC foes.

Ball State kept control of the ball at Bowling Green on Feb. 3, 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. The Cardinals have had 15 games so far this season with 10 or fewer giveaways.

CARDINALS CLAMPING DOWN ON DEFENSE: Ball State leads the Mid-American Conference in scoring defense (69.5 points per game) and ranks third in fewest fouls committed per game (15.9) and fourth in turnovers forced per game (12.8) through the season's first 30 contests.