And I'm telling you son, well, it ain't no fun staring straight down a forty-four. "Gimme Three Steps" - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Ball State Cardinals
82 – 87
FINAL Conference
Akron Zips
Mid-American Conference · Worthen Arena · February 26, 2025
Betting Lines
Spread AKR -6.5 Home covered
O/U 157.5 Over
Money BALL +260 / AKR -320
Model Predictions
Spread Total BALL win
Actual AKR +5 169 Lost
Massey AKR -6.8 (+1.8) — —
Massey Totals — 159.5 (+9.5) —
Bradley-Terry — — 18% ✓
Weighted B-T — — 12% ✓
Baseline Plus ML AKR -5.1 (+0.1) 156.7 (+12.3) 27% ✓
Efficiency Plus ML ★ AKR -6.2 (+1.2) 156.4 (+12.6) 26% ✓
Baseline Tuned ML AKR -5.0 (+0.0) 154.5 (+14.5) 27% ✓
Baseline ML AKR -5.5 (+0.5) 155.2 (+13.8) 31% ✓

Predictions use only rating snapshots dated before tip-off. Parenthesised values are the signed error vs. the actual result. Model performance →

Last 5 Meetings

Feb 20, 2026 AKR 78 – 65 BALL
Jan 14, 2026 AKR 87 – 77 BALL
Feb 5, 2025 AKR 81 – 73 BALL
Jan 10, 2024 AKR 80 – 76 BALL
Mar 1, 2023 AKR 87 – 83 BALL

Team Comparison

Record & Ratings BALL AKR
Overall 14-17 28-7
Conference 7-11 17-1
Home 8-7 16-0
Away 4-9 8-4
Neutral 1-1 4-3
Last 5 4-1 4-1
Streak L4 L1
Avg Pts For 73.8 83.4
Avg Pts Against 75.2 76.4
Massey -5.9 (#263) 4.0 (#103)
Bradley-Terry -1.05 (#268) 1.02 (#89)
W. Bradley-Terry -1.57 (#284) 1.03 (#99)
RPI 0.449 (#276) 0.583 (#45)
Shooting & Four Factors BALL AKR
FG% 45.7% 46.4%
3PT% 35.3% 36.1%
REB / G 34.2 39.0
OREB / G 9.0 11.8
AST / TO 1.13 1.41
Four Factors — Offense
eFG% 52.3% 54.7%
TOV% 16.5% 17.4%
ORB% 26.9% 32.1%
FT Rate 33.7% 19.0%
Four Factors — Defense
Opp eFG% 51.5% 48.8%
Opp TOV% 14.3% 17.2%
DRB% 71.4% 71.8%
Opp FT Rate 23.5% 24.8%

Game Analysis

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