Game 17, 2025-26: Ball State (1/10)

[MikeUMA]

Scouting ahead...

UM hosts Ball State on Saturday the 10th, in a women's & men's double-header.
WBB gets Central Michigan at 1
MBB follows, at approximately 3:30
Pretty sure it's a single admission. Split would be impossible.

Ball State's name has always amused me, like something that would appear as the title of a 30 For 30 documentary. Anyway, BSU's history...

MAC member since: 1975

MAC titles, regular season (outright or divisional): 12 (last 2020)
MAC tournament (began in 1980) titles: 7

NCAA Tournament appearances: 7 (3-7 record)
Last bid: 2000
Farthest run: Sweet Sixteen in 1990
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/sc ... state/men/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_Stat ... basketball

Current coach: Michael Lewis (4th season), his first HC job.
Lewis started at Ball with a 20-12 season, but has slowly declined since.
Worked thru the assistant ranks, for Ben Howland at UCLA prior to getting the Ball job.
He was a 4-year player for Bobby Knight at Indiana, finishing in 2000.
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/co ... wis-1.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_L ... all_coach)

Ball's last 4 seasons
2021-22 (last under James Whitford): 14-17 / 9-10 (6th)
2022-23 (first under Lewis): 20-12 / 11-7 (4th)
2023-24: 15-16 / 7-11 (9th DNQ for MAC Tourney)
2024-25: 14-17 / 7-11 (9th DNQ)

We haven't played Ball since 2019 (Jersey Mike's Classic in Florida), so Lewis vs Frank Martin will be the first this season.

I'll do more on Ball as the game day approaches, but so far this season they're struggling, at 4-9 overall, but they've also played 5 true away games. Their NET has been hovering in the 330s and 340s, as they have five Quad 4 losses, and no wins against Q3 or better.

Ball is offensively challenged, at 68.0 ppg and in the 330s in D-I. They show decent defense, but numbers are helped by having a D-II and holding a D-III to 30 points.

They had a ton of roster turnover, at just 11% of the minutes and 6% of the scoring returned from last season. (We returned 24% and 18% respectively.)

https://umasshoops.com/wiki/doku.php?id ... ball_state

[inthescoop]

Ball State could be the worst team in the MAC

If we lose this one, that should be the last straw

[LS71]

^ Helluva way to celebrate the 30th anniversary of UMass being #1 and its only Final Four appearance.

[MikeUMA]

Ball State could be the worst team in the MAC

By NET, that's currently true. They're 341, near the bottom (of the 365 that bracketologists.com measures).

They only have 2 wins among their D-I schedule:
75-64 at home over Louisiana (current NET 337) in the season opener
96-85 neutral site over Le Moyne (303). (We won at home over Le Moyne, 94-80.)

They're 1-7 (the Le Moyne win being the 1) anywhere other than their homecourt.

[MikeUMA]

I just took a peek at the Ball State message board, and the thread with the newest reply was about exploring a buyout for their current coach (Michael Lewis).

I feel that

[SignMan]

Power U Business Mixer at Women's & Men's Basketball
https://www.umassalumni.com/s/1640/rd17 ... nuary+2026

[MikeUMA]

Ball State comes in pretty deflated (pun intended), at 4-11 overall but just 2-11 against D-I. They're also 1-7 anywhere but their home court, and 0-3 in the young MAC season:
86-77 home loss to undefeated Miami (not surprising)
85-72 loss at Buffalo (who's having a good year themselves, at 11-2)
74-52 home loss to EMU

Ball's two D-I wins
75-64 Home opener over Louisiana (NET 337)
96-85 neutral site over Le Moyne (NET 303). We also beat Le Moyne by a similar score (94-80)

Not sure why, and I don't have time to deep dive on it, but their starting rotation keeps changing. They've used 8 combos across their 15 games. In their last two:

• Armoni Zeigler (6-4 185 Jr G). Ball's second in points (10.6) and boards (4.8). Started in all but one game. .429 from the floor but only .237 from deep. Their leading assist guy at 2.7 per game, and plays 30.4 minutes. He played his first two at St. Peter's in the MAAC.
• Devon Barnes (6-0 171 Sr G). 3rd in points at 9.1. He's on his 4th destination in 4 years: JuCo, Tarleton State (WAC), UTEP (C-USA), now Ball. Just .359 from the floor overall, and .291 from 3. Good at the line though, at .837 (9th in the MAC).
• Preston Copeland (6-9 215 Fr F). 4.3 pts, 4.4 rebs (3rd on team). Played in all but one game, started in 8 of the last 9. Still figuring it out at 16.8 minutes per game. Unsurprising for a freshman, gets into a bit of foul trouble (5.1 per 40).
• Elmore James (6-3 205 Sr G). 8.5 pts, 1.3 boards. Shoots .405 from the floor, .280. Spent his first 3 seasons across the conference at Ohio, where he was MAC All-Freshman.
• Mason Jones (6-7 219 Jr F). Ball's only consistent starter, and leading minutes guy at 32.1 mpg. Decent shooter at .439 overall and .414 from 3, but doesn't put up a lot of either: 4.4 and 1.9 per game respectively.

Ball's leading scorer, Davion Hill (6-2 225 So G, 10.9 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 1.9 apg), mostly comes off the bench. He started at the beginning, lost it, got it back for a bit, but in the last 3 he's off the bench again. Averages 22.6 minutes. Big swings in his production, with points between 0 and 24, and FGAs between 3 and 16. Shoots .440 overall and is tied (with Zeigler) for the most attempts per game. Decent from 3 at .367. He was JuCo last season in the same conference as our Dimitri Clerc, and also met up with Charles Outlaw's team once.

Ball's volume 3 shooter is Juwan Maxey (6-1 165 Sr G), who has appeared in 12 games and averages 21.1 minutes. He launches 6.2 threes but only connects at .243. That's a lot of attempts for the limited success. Averages 7.4 ppg.

A lot of Ball's team numbers rank in the low 200s and 300s.
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/sc ... /2026.html

Ball doesn't have any player in the MAC's top 25 leaders in scoring or rebounding. They do have a couple of high steals guys: Jones at 1.7 per game (5th in MAC), and Zeigler (also at 1.7 decimal points behind, ranks 8th in MAC).

Matchup comparison: https://bracketologists.com/matchup/NDAxODE0NTEx

UM game notes: https://umassathletics.com/news/2026/1/ ... ball-state
Ball's: https://ballstatesports.com/news/2026/1 ... -afternoon

"Must-win game" is sometimes an over-used expression. Not here. This is a must-win game.

[ZooMass84]

ESPN has us at 86% to win...............don't see a spread yet.........let me guess: lose in 2OT

[69MG]

I've only found 1 spread and we're favored by 11.

To expand on what Mike posted about their players, 3 of them have missed at least the last 2 games. I didn't look back any further. They are Maxey, Hart and Fish. Maxey is an enigma. As Mike said, he shoots a lot of 3s, but at 24%. Against LeMoyne, he was 7/14. Here's a post about their status from 12/29. It's hard to know if we'll see any of them tomorrow. They average 7, 9 and 7, so for an offensively challenged team that might hurt them.

https://x.com/ZachCarter85/status/2005825548488970441

[inthescoop]

UMass are 11.5 point favorites
Over/under is 147.5

[Floyd]

Man, the interest in UMass sports has dwindled so much. There used to be lots of chatter pre & post games along with during games & now hardly a peep. Need new direction

[Juice Stand]

This is a women's (1:00) and men's (3:30) doubleheader. I got an email last night stating that tickets are good for BOTH games. I'm planning on going to the men's game and will definitely leave the house early to check out the women's team as well. In a long line of athletic department blunders, this is not one of them. I'm stoked for a full day of hoops!

Doubleheader - Tickets Are Good For Both Games
Your ticket will grant you Mullins Center admission starting at 12 p.m.
No Re-Entry, you must remain in the Mullins Center between games.

For the women's game - men's basketball ticket holders can sit in the general admission sections located behind the team benches.

For the men's game - women's basketball ticket holders can sit in Upper Sections D and E.

[nv73]

Any word on Leo?

[InnervisionsUMASS]

Any word on Leo?

He's playing.

[Floyd]

That runout dunk by Ball State, #1 took about 5 steps before the pass for the dunk.

They might need to put the AC on in the Mullins. Team is shooting so hot