TOLEDO, Ohio - Toledo (21-6, 9-5 MAC) looks to maintain its hold on first place in the Mid-American Conference's West Division when it visits Ball State (14-13, 5-9 MAC) on Tuesday, Feb. 26. Tip-off time is set for 7:00 p.m. with the contest being streamed on ESPN-Plus.

       The Rockets enter Tuesday's game with a one-game lead over Central Michigan (19-8, 8-6 MAC) in the MAC West Division standings. UT is two games in front of Eastern Michigan (13-14, 7-7 MAC). If the MAC Tournament started today, Toledo would be the No. 3 seed.

       The Rockets rallied from an 11-point second-half deficit on Saturday to pull out a gritty 57-54 victory over Northern Illinois. The victory was UT's fifth straight over the Huskies.

       Senior Nate Navigato paced UT's attack with a season-tying high 21 points. Sophomore Marreon Jackson also was in double digits with 10 points. Navigato and Jackson each buried three treys in the second half to help Toledo rally for the win. Junior Luke Knapke topped the Rockets on the boards by tying his career high with 13 rebounds.

       Toledo shot just 38.0 percent from the field but limited NIU to a 36.4 FG%.  Each team knocked down eight three-point field goals, but the Rockets enjoyed a slight advantage at the charity stripe. UT converted 11-of-17 free-throw attempts, while NIU was just 6-of-11 at the line.

       Toledo has lost its last five meetings against the Cardinals, including a 79-64 setback in the conference opener on Jan. 4. The Rockets trailed the entire game in that contest with Chris Darrington pacing a balanced Rocket attack with 13 points off the bench.

       Ball State is 2-5 at home in conference action with its losses coming to Eastern Michigan (84-82), Ohio (70-52), Miami (71-65), Kent State (83-80) and Central Michigan (64-57). The Cardinals had won three straight games before losing twice last week at Miami and vs. CMU.
 
GAME INFORMATION
Date: Tuesday, February 26, 2019.
Tip-Off: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Muncie, Ind.
Arena: Worthen Arena (11,500).
Streaming: ESPN-Plus. Jack Kizer will provide play-by-play for broadcast with Alex Thomas serving as analyst.
Radio: Rocket Radio Network. WSPD (1370 AM) in Toledo. Brent Balbinot will provide play-by-play for broadcast with Jay Lehman serving as analyst.
Series: Toledo leads 48-46. UT has lost five in a row and six of its last seven meetings vs. BSU.

POST TOUCHES
•  Toledo has won 20 games for the fourth time in the last six years and for the 22nd time in program history.
•  UT is fifth nationally (as of Feb. 24) with its 77.9 FT%. The Rockets also rank in the Top 20 nationally in defensive rebounds per game (29.8/7th), rebounds per game (40.4/13th), assists per game (16.6/16th) and assist/turnover ratio (1.38/20th).
•  UT leads the MAC in FT% (77.9), three-point FG% (37.0), three-point FGs per game (9.6) and defensive RPG (29.9) The Rockets are second in scoring defense (68.3 ppg) and FG% defense (40.4).
•  Jaelan Sanford leads the MAC with an 86.6 FT% and is 11th with a team-high 15.5 ppg. The Evansville, Ind. native ranks seventh on UT's all-time scoring list with 1,695 points and is six points behind Greg Stempin (1997-2001).
•  Sanford is also fifth on UT's career three-point field-goal list with 227 and needs one more to tie Chad Kamstra (1996-2000) for fourth place. He is second in career minutes played (4,163), trailing only Juice Brown (2011-15) with 4,327.
•  Sanford registered his lone two career double-doubles with 12 points and a career-high 11 boards at Bowling Green (Feb. 9) and 24 points and 10 rebounds vs. Buffalo (Feb. 15).
•  Nate Navigato ranks ninth nationally with a 46.4 three-point FG%. Navigato holds the UT record for career three-point FGs and ranks second in MAC history with 295 treys. Navigato ranks 17th on UT's all-time scoring list with 1,354 points.
•  Willie Jackson ranks third in the MAC with 9.3 rpg. He has eight double-doubles and has led or shared the team lead in rebounding on 18 occasions. Jackson dished out a career-high five assists to go along with nine points and 13 boards at Kent State (Jan. 22).
•  Two Rockets rank in the MAC's Top 5 in three different categories:
    Three-point FG% — Nate Navigato (46.4/2nd) and Luke Knapke (41.4/5th)
    Free-throw percentage — Jaelan Sanford (86.6/1st) and Chris Darrington (84.1/2nd)
    Blocked shots per game — AJ Edu (1.6/2nd) and Luke Knapke (1.4/4th)
•  Four Rockets rank in the MAC's Top 15 in 3PTFG% — Navigato, Knapke, Darrington (39.1/9th) and Spencer Littleson (38.4/13th). Six Rockets are also averaging at least one 3PTFG/game.
•  Marreon Jackson ranks fifth in the MAC with 4.3 apg and ninth with 1.4 spg and a 1.7 assist/turnover ratio. He ranks second on the team with 13.1 ppg in MAC play and scored a season-high 20 points in each of the Rockets' games vs. Buffalo.
•  Luke Knapke ranks sixth in MAC play with a 55.6 FG% and leads the MAC in league play with 1.9 bpg. Knapke is third on UT's all-time blocked shot list with 127 blocks, 12 behind J.C. Harris (1989-92) and 38 behind Nathan Boothe (2012-16).
•  Chris Darrington comes off the bench and ranks fifth on the team with a 9.4 scoring mark. He leads UT in free throws made (74) and free throws attempted (88) despite playing just 15.4 mpg. Darrington scored a career-high 21 points at Buffalo (Jan. 8) and he tallied 20 points in 20 minutes off the bench at Bowling Green (Feb. 9).
•  AJ Edu ranks second in the MAC with 1.6 blocks per game and is tied for third with 1.6 bpg in league play. He registered a season-high five rejections vs. Cornell (Dec. 19), Ball State (Jan. 4) and Ohio (Jan. 18) and his 43 rejections are the most by a freshman in UT history.
 
SOME TEAM STATISTICAL TIDBITS
•  Thirteen of UT's 21 wins have been by 11 points or more.
•  Toledo is 5-1 this season in games decided by five points or less. The Rockets have won 12 of 15 games decided by five points or less since the start of last season.
•  Toledo has five players shooting 76.9 percent or better from the free-throw line.
•  UT has had at least four players score in double digits in 18 of 26 contests and has had five players score in double figures on six occasions.
•  Toledo is 17-3 when outrebounding its opponent.
•  Toledo has held double-digit rebounding advantages against 11 opponents, including a plus-25 effort vs. Detroit Mercy (Dec. 5) and a plus-22 outing vs. Cornell (Dec. 19).
•  Toledo is 18-1 when holding its opponent under 45 percent shooting from the field. UT is 20-2 when holding its opponent under 80 points.
•  UT is 19-2 when leading or tied with five minutes to play.
•  The Rockets are 10-0 on games played on Saturday this season.

LEFTOVER NOTES FROM THE NORTHERN ILLINOIS GAME
•  Toledo swept its season series vs. NIU for the second straight year.
•  The Rockets improved their home record to 12-2.
•  UT won despite scoring a season-low 21 points in the first half and 57 points in the game.
•  Toledo has held opponents under 60 points in nine contests this season.
•  The Rockets blocked seven shots vs. NIU and are one rejection away from tying the school record set last season for most blocks (72) in conference play. UT needs 15 blocks to break last year's team's school record of 135 rejections.
 
SOME INFO ON THE ROCKETS' OPPONENT
Senior Tayler Persons leads Ball State with 16.6 ppg and 4.4 apg. Juniors K.J. Walton and Tahjai Teague are also scoring in double digits at 13.8 and 13.6 ppg, with Teague grabbing a team-high 7.9 rpg.
The Cardinals rank second in the MAC with a 47.2 field-goal percentage but are 11th in the conference in league play with 15.2 turnovers per game.
  
DEFENSE! DEFENSE!
       Toledo ranks second in the Mid-American Conference in scoring defense (68.3 ppg) and field-goal percentage defense (40.4) and is fourth in three-point FG% defense (31.4). The Rockets also rank No. 30 nationally with their 40.5 FG% defense.
       Last year, UT ranked seventh in scoring defense (74.5) and fifth in field-goal percentage defense (43.7) and three-point FG% defense (34.3).
  
ON THE HORIZON
              The Rockets will play their final regular-season road game at Central Michigan (19-8, 8-6 MAC) on Saturday, March 2. Toledo will close out its regular season with home games vs. Western Michigan (8-19, 2-12 MAC) on Tuesday, March 5 and Eastern Michigan (13-14, 7-7 MAC) on Friday, March 8.