Evansville hosts Pearson and Ball State

Evansville Purple Aces (3-8, 0-2 MVC) at Ball State Cardinals (5-4)

Muncie, Indiana; Saturday, 2 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Ball State hosts the Evansville Purple Aces after Mickey Pearson Jr. scored 20 points in Ball State's 76-59 victory against the Eastern Illinois Panthers.

The Cardinals are 2-0 in home games. Ball State is ninth in the MAC with 22.4 defensive rebounds per game led by Jarron Coleman averaging 4.8.

The Purple Aces have gone 1-4 away from home. Evansville is 0-5 in games decided by 10 points or more.

TOP PERFORMERS: Payton Sparks is scoring 14.4 points per game and averaging 7.8 rebounds for the Cardinals. Coleman is averaging 2.2 made 3-pointers for Ball State.

Kenny Strawbridge is scoring 15.5 points per game with 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists for the Purple Aces. Yacine Toumi is averaging 9.8 points over the last 10 games for Evansville.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.