Ball State stats:
Field goal percentage: 46.5
3-PT percentage: 37.6
Assists: 15.6
Steals: 6.0
Leading scorer: Tayler Persons - 16.3
Northern Illinois University
Field goal percentage: 43.9
3-PT percentage: 30.8
Assists: 10.9
Steals: 7.3
Leading scorer: Marin Maric - 14.0
Ball State men's basketball (19-11, 10-7 MAC) welcomes Northern Illinois (15-15, 7-10) to Worthen Arena on Friday for the last game of the regular season with Mid-American Conference tournament seeding still up for grabs.
With 10 wins and seven losses in the conference standings, Ball State shares the same record with Ohio, Kent State, Buffalo, and Western Michigan.
With Akron already clinching the No. 1 seed, the four teams above and Ball State will fill out seeds two through six depending on results from the Friday night games.
If the Cardinals want a chance at the two seed in the tournament, they must go through the conferences leading defense. The Northern Illinois Huskies only allow opponents an average of 70.1 points per game, and they force 7.3 steals as well.
With the Huskies strong defense comes a weaker offense. Northern Illinois scores 72.0 points per game which is just about as much as their defense allows and ranks 11th in the MAC.
In the last meeting with Northern Illinois on Feb. 14, Ball State went into overtime to overcome a first half in which Northern Illinois shot 56.7 percent from the field and 60.0 percent from 3-point.
With the Feb. 14 victory, the Cardinals took sole possession of first place in the MAC west division, and with a Western Michigan loss and Ball State sweep of Northern Illinois this Friday, the Cardinals could see themselves MAC West Division champions.
The Cardinals had three players score double digits against the Huskies in the first outing, and sophomore guard Tayler Persons added 13 assists to go along with his nine points.
As head coach James Whitford said in the beginning of February, defense is key for the Cardinals down the stretch.
In the overtime victory, the Cardinals held the Huskies without a field goal from the eight-minute mark of the second half until the two-minute mark of overtime and a 41.8 percent field goal percentage after the Huskies started the game 56.7 percent from the field.
In the last game against Toledo, Ball State's defense showed again. The Cardinals held the Rockets to 40.6 percent shooting from the field to secure the win and to put the Cardinals in position for a top seed in the conference tournament.
Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at Worthen Arena. Ball State will be celebrating senior night as the home fans say farewell to senior forwards Franko House and Ryan Weber before tip.
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