College basketball season is right around the corner, and Ball State basketball is preparing for another season with a revamped roster.
Between seven transfers and three freshmen, Ball State’s roster has 10 new faces for the 2025-26 season compared to seven for the 2024-25 season. The Cardinals are coming off a 14-17 season in which they finished 7-11 in Mid-American Conference play, failing to qualify for the conference tournament for the second straight season.
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More: Ball State basketball transfer portal tracker: Who’s in, who’s out for the Cardinals
More: Ball State basketball fires its longest-tenured assistant coach after disappointing season
The Cardinals will tip off the 2025-26 season at home against Louisiana on Monday, Nov. 3. Here’s five things to know about Ball State basketball before the season begins.
Ball State basketball welcomes two new coaches
Michael Lewis is entering his fourth season as the head coach of the Cardinals. A former Indiana high school Gatorade Player of the Year and a star guard under Bob Knight at Indiana, Lewis was an assistant coach at Stephen F. Austin, Eastern Illinois, Butler, Nebraska and UCLA prior to taking the head coaching job at Ball State in 2022. He has compiled a head coaching record of 49-45 during his time in Muncie.
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The assistant coaching staff experienced an offseason shakeup, starting with the firing of assistant coach Ben Botts, who remained in the MAC as an assistant coach at Miami (Ohio). The Cardinals added two new staff members in assistant coach John Clancy and associate head coach Scott Combs. The latter was the associate head coach at James Madison last season, where he helped the Dukes earn a share of the Sun Belt regular season title. He was at Morehead State prior to that, where he helped develop Johni Broome, the 2025 Sporting News National Player of the Year at Auburn.
Ball State’s other two assistant coaches are also relatively new. Both Justin Brown and Buzzy Caruthers are entering their second season on Lewis’ staff and will work closely with the Cardinals’ guards.
“I think with both additions, and really with Buzzy and Justin last year, it kind of opened my eyes to some things we needed more of in our program,” Lewis said. “The options that we had this spring from, I don’t know if you can call it recruiting anymore, but from a player acquisition standpoint. As assistants, your number one responsibility used to be recruiting. Now, you have guys on your staff that have contacts to enough people to get you in the door.
“I feel like we cast a wider net, and I think a lot of that has to do with our staff and our staff makeup.”
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Top returning players for Ball State basketball
Ball State only returns four players from last year’s roster, and only two of them saw more than 10 minutes per game in the 2024-25 season.
Junior forward Mason Jones is the longest tenured Ball State Cardinal as he enters his third season with the team. He started 23 out of 31 games played as a freshman but only made seven starts last season with an average of 11.6 minutes per game.
“Just knowing how we operate around here, trying to spread my knowledge of how we do things to the newer players so they can worry less about that and more about competing and trying to win games is huge,” Jones said.
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Ball State also returns junior guard Joey Hart, sophomore guard Kody Clancy and redshirt freshman forward Jai Anthoni Bearden. Hart began his career at Kentucky but transferred to Ball State ahead of the 2024-25 season. He averaged 10.9 minutes per game last season and made one start. Clancy saw minimal playing time as a freshman with 13 total minutes across four appearances.
Bearden, meanwhile, redshirted last year and did not see any playing time. He is the ninth highest-rated recruit in Ball State basketball history, according to 247sports, so his continued development will be one to watch for.
The Cardinals were also set to return junior center Zane Doughty. However, the team announced on Friday, Oct. 24, that Doughty had stepped away from the program. It is unclear if he plans to return.
Who are Ball State’s new players?
Ball State brought in seven new players from the transfer portal — senior guard Elmore James IV (Ohio), redshirt sophomore guard Davion Hill (Northwest Florida State College), senior guard Juwan Maxey (Youngstown State), redshirt sophomore forward Kayden Fish (Iowa State), junior guard Armoni Zeigler (Saint Peter’s), graduate senior forward Cam Denson (Long Beach State), and senior guard Devon Barnes (UTEP).
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The Cardinals once again opted for experience out of the portal with four of its seven additions being seniors or graduate seniors. James also brings the added value of MAC experience thanks to his three seasons at Ohio.
“I thought it would be a pretty good idea to stay in the MAC,” James said. “The conference tournament is in Cleveland, and I want to win it in my hometown in front of my family. The MAC’s a very fun conference too, so I feel like it was nice to stick it out here and try and make something happen in Cleveland my senior year.”
Ball State also added three freshmen recruits. Preston Copeland was a 3-star recruit from Clayton, N.C. who prepped at Combine Academy. According to 247sports, he is the seventh highest-rated recruit in Ball State history and could push for a role early in his career. The Cardinals also added two in-state recruits — Alex Farley, a guard out of Clinton Prairie in Rossville, and Easton Foster, a local legend out of Monroe Central in nearby Parker City.
Ball State’s roster is guard-heavy, lacks size
Noticeably missing from Ball Sate’s portal additions was size. The Cardinals graduated a pair of 6-foot-10 centers in Payton Sparks and Ben Hendriks, and with the 6-9 Doughty no longer with the program, Copeland is the tallest player on the team, also standing 6-9. However, Copeland may not see much playing time early on given his status as a true freshman, which leaves 6-7 forwards Bearden, Denson and Jones as the tallest players with better odds of cracking the rotation. Without Doughty, Ball State does not have a player listed as a center.
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According to Lewis, the Cardinals did attempt to address their lack of a paint presence in the transfer portal but ultimately didn’t land any of their targets. However, he and his staff remain confident that improved guard play and stronger depth can still take them where they want to go.
“We had some guys that we chased, and it just didn’t work, and I wasn’t going to take someone that I didn’t feel like was good enough,” Lewis said. “We have some bigger, stronger guards, and we have to go about it a different way. Guards win games, and if you don’t have good guard play, you struggle.”
Ball State men’s basketball head coach Michael Lewis talks to Mason Jones during the team’s 92-74 win against Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Worthen Arena on Friday, Nov. 24, 2023.
What are the top games on the schedule for Ball State basketball?
Ball State will open the season at home with a MAC-SBC Challenge game against Louisiana on Monday, Nov. 3. The Cardinals’ first road game will be at Wisconsin on Tuesday, Nov. 11, an early-season challenge against a Big Ten school.
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Ball State also has three in-state rivals on the schedule. The Cardinals are on the road at Indiana State on Saturday, Nov. 22, where they will look to break a three-year losing streak to the Sycamores. Ball State will also hit the road to take on Evansville on Wednesday, Dec. 3. Their final in-state matchup will be at home against Earlham College on Monday, Dec. 29.
Ball State will also participate in the second annual Lafayette Classic tournament hosted by Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. The Cardinals will take on Monmouth, Lafayette and Le Moyne from Nov. 28-30.
Ball State opens MAC play with a Redbird Rivalry matchup against Miami (Ohio) at home on Saturday, Dec. 20. Other big conference games include two matchups with reigning MAC champion Akron (at Akron on Tuesday, Jan. 13 and at home on Saturday, Feb. 21) and two matchups with Bronze Stalk rival Northern Illinois (at home on Saturday, Jan. 24 and at NIU on Saturday, Feb. 28) in the Huskies’ final season in the MAC. James will face off with his old team twice when the Cardinals host Ohio on Friday, Jan. 16, followed by a visit to the Bobcats on Tuesday, Feb. 17.
To see Ball State basketball’s full 2025-26 season schedule, click here.
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Contact Cade Hampton via email at cbhampton@muncie.gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @CadeHamp10.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Ball State basketball 2025-26 season preview, 5 things to know
