Bettiol, UMass Minutemen square off against the Ball State Cardinals

By Canadian Press on January 10, 2026.

Ball State Cardinals (4-11, 0-3 MAC) at UMass Minutemen (9-7, 0-4 MAC)

Amherst, Massachusetts; Saturday, 3:30 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: UMass takes on Ball State in a matchup of MAC teams.

The Minutemen have gone 6-3 in home games. UMass ranks second in the MAC in rebounding averaging 35.2 rebounds. Leonardo Bettiol leads the Minutemen with 7.4 boards.

The Cardinals are 0-3 in MAC play. Ball State is 4-6 in games decided by at least 10 points.

UMass is shooting 46.4% from the field this season, 1.2 percentage points higher than the 45.2% Ball State allows to opponents. Ball State averages 67.2 points per game, 6.9 fewer points than the 74.1 UMass allows.

The Minutemen and Cardinals face off Saturday for the first time in conference play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Bettiol is averaging 16.1 points and 7.4 rebounds for the Minutemen. Marcus Banks is averaging 15.7 points over the last 10 games.

Davion Hill is scoring 10.9 points per game with 3.6 rebounds and 1.9 assists for the Cardinals. Armoni Zeigler is averaging 10.0 points and 4.9 rebounds while shooting 37.8% over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Minutemen: 6-4, averaging 81.7 points, 37.3 rebounds, 18.6 assists, 7.3 steals and 3.0 blocks per game while shooting 46.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 74.1 points per game.

Cardinals: 2-8, averaging 68.0 points, 28.3 rebounds, 13.9 assists, 7.5 steals and 3.1 blocks per game while shooting 41.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 69.6 points.

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

The Associated Press