Five MAC Men's Games Slated For This Evening

•The Cardinals snapped a seven-game skid Saturday afternoon with a 71-62 victory over Southern Illinois. Ball State is averaging 63.8 points per game while allowing 60.4 points per game against. Senior foward Jarrod Jones leads the team in scoring at 15.8 points per game and on the glass at 8.7 rebounds per game... The Broncos have dropped five out of their last six, including an 86-73 loss at North Dakota State Saturday. Western Michigan owns a 9-2 record at home this season. The Broncos are averaging 68.3 points per game while allowing 70.7 points per game. The Broncos have dropped five out of their last six, including an 86-73 loss at North Dakota State Saturday.

•Bowling Green enters tonight’s game with a 14-12 record and a 7-5 mark in the MAC.  The Falcons have won five of their last six contests entering the night and have a 4-9 record away from the Stroh Center (3-3 MAC). The squad has four players scoring in double figures, including A’uston Calhoun (13.1 ppg), Scott Thomas (12.7 ppg), Jordan Crawford (10.7 ppg) and Dee Brown (10.5 ppg).  Thomas is the team’s leading rebounder (6.5 rpg)... Akron’s 11-1 start to conference play is the best MAC start for the Zips in program history. A win by the Zips over BGSU will give them the first 12-1 start in the league since the 2003-04 season (Kent State). With a win over Bowling Green, the Zips will become just the 12th team in Division I basketball to record 20-plus wins in each of the past seven seasons (out of 345 teams).

•The Rockets are tied for third place in the West Division and have won three of their last four contests, including two straight road games. Rian Pearson ranks second in the MAC with 16.6 ppg, third with 8.3 rpg and fifth with 1.7 spg and is the only player to appear in the Top 10 of all three categories. He also ranks fourth nationally in rebounding among guards... The Chippewas (8-18, 3-9 MAC) have lost 10 of their last 11 contests since opening conference play with two victories. CMU has won six straight against the Rockets, including a convincing 85-69 victory in the MAC opener for both schools back on Jan. 7.  The Chippewas are coming off a two-point home loss to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday as part of the BracketBusters series. Sophomore G Trey Zeigler ranks fourth in the MAC with 15.5 ppg and eighth with 6.6 rpg.

•The Eagles have an 11-16 overall record, 6-6 in Mid-American Conference play, Eastern Michigan is coming off of back-to-back losses at Central Michigan (55-52) and at UW-Green Bay (54-49). Darrell Lampley leads the Eagles averaging 13.0 points per contest for first-year head coach Rob Murphy. The Eagles are the best defensive team in the MAC, allowing just 59.2 points per game... The Huskies hold a slight 20-19 edge in games played in Ypsilanti, including a 71-69 win at Eastern Michigan last season. Last year’s victory is NIU’s only win in the last six trips to Ypsilanti. Earlier this season, Eastern Michigan snapped a two-game losing streak to NIU, defeating the Huskies 47-40 in DeKalb (Jan. 7).

•Buffalo is 16-8 overall and 9-3 in the MAC and is coming off an 86-65 loss at South Dakota State on Saturday afternoon.  The Bulls were led by Mitchell Watt who had 15 points and eight rebounds. Zach Filzen added 13 points and Tony Watson chipped in with 11. Buffalo ranks third in the nation in rebounding (41.3 rpg). The Bulls have never averaged over 40 rebounds per game in a season since joining the MAC. Their previous high was 38.4 in 2007-0... Last week, Ohio hit the 20-win mark for the 13th time in program history and second time under current Head Coach John Groce. The Bobcats are coming off a 81-62 win over UNC Asheville on Saturday night.  The Bobcats are led by D.J. Cooper who is averaging 13.8 points and 3.9 rebounds per game.