Ball State plays Akron after Hill’s 22-point performance

By Canadian Press on January 12, 2026.

Ball State Cardinals (4-12, 0-4 MAC) at Akron Zips (12-4, 3-1 MAC)

Akron, Ohio; Tuesday, 7 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Ball State visits Akron after Davion Hill scored 22 points in Ball State’s 79-71 loss to the UMass Minutemen.

The Zips are 8-0 on their home court. Akron averages 20.4 assists per game to lead the MAC, paced by Tavari Johnson with 5.4.

The Cardinals are 0-4 in conference games. Ball State is the top team in the MAC giving up only 69.8 points per game while holding opponents to 45.4% shooting.

Akron scores 93.4 points, 23.6 more per game than the 69.8 Ball State allows. Ball State has shot at a 41.8% clip from the field this season, 0.2 percentage points fewer than the 42.0% shooting opponents of Akron have averaged.

The Zips and Cardinals match up Tuesday for the first time in conference play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Johnson is scoring 19.6 points per game and averaging 2.1 rebounds for the Zips. Shammah Scott is averaging 2.3 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

Hill is averaging 11.6 points for the Cardinals. Juwan Maxey is averaging 1.1 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Zips: 7-3, averaging 92.4 points, 34.3 rebounds, 20.2 assists, 8.2 steals and 3.4 blocks per game while shooting 54.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 78.9 points per game.

Cardinals: 2-8, averaging 67.8 points, 27.9 rebounds, 13.4 assists, 8.0 steals and 2.6 blocks per game while shooting 41.0% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 69.5 points.

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

The Associated Press