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Ball State Cardinals vs. Indiana State Sycamores men's basketball preview

Can the Cards win in Terre Haute?

Joe Robbins/Getty Images

After a six-game winning streak was stopped 10 days ago by Pepperdine, the Ball State Cardinals (7-3) will aim to start another long streak when they head to Terre Haute to face the Indiana State Sycamores (5-6).

2015 has been a struggle for the usually-consistent Sycamores. Every single game of Indiana State's season has been remarkably close, with only four of their first 11 contests being decided by double digits, and no game was decided by more than 14 points. ISU has suffered close defeats to IUPUI, Tulsa, Eastern Illinois, Butler, Valparaiso and Western Kentucky. They have had Division I victories over Wyoming, Norfolk State, Hofstra and Saint Louis. They also have a victory versus Illinois-Springfield of the NAIA, who have an odd mascot called the "Prairie Stars,".

If you're looking for a great playmaker on their lineup, you're not going to find one. Senior guard Devonte Brown serves as Indiana State's leading scorer, averaging 14.5 per game for Indiana State due to part to his ability to get to the line. In the Sycamores' 76-68 Saturday night victory over Saint Louis, Brown finished 14-for-14 from the stripe. Brown is joined by Brenton Scott and Khristian Smith who also average double digits in scoring. Matt Van Scyoc averages 9.4 points per game, and after that there is a huge drop off, as the next best ISU scorer only averages 4.6 per contest. Smith is Indiana State's top rebounder with 6.0 per game, while Brown leads the team in asissts per game with 3.5.

Ball State's 6-game winning streak ended last time out when the Cards ran into a good Pepperdine team. The Waves led nearly the whole way through and hit their free throws late to overcome the Cardinals 76-64. Ball State has Division I wins this season over Eastern Illinois, Longwood, South Carolina State, Valparaiso, IUPUI and New Orleans. They also have a 46 point victory over the NAIA's IU-Kokomo Cougars.

Ryan Weber, Franko House and Bo Calhoun all average in double figures for Ball State. Calhoun is averaging nearly a double-double per game on the season. He is putting up 10.9 points and 8.7 rebounds per contest on average. That is good enough for Calhoun to lead the team i rebounding, while Jeremiah Davis leads in assists with 3.3 per game.

This game starts at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday evening. ESPN 3 has your online streaming coverage. Click here to watch live.