TOLEDO, Ohio - The Toledo men's basketball team (20-7, 15-4 MAC) opens play in the 2021 Mid-American Tournament as the No. 1 seed on Thursday, March 11 against a familiar foe when it faces No. 8 seed Ball State (10-12, 8-9 MAC). The contest will be televised on ESPN+ and tip off in Cleveland's Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse at 11:00 a.m.

        The winner of the Toledo-Ball State quarterfinal matchup will meet either No. 4 seed Kent State or No. 5 seed Ohio in the semifinals on Friday, March 12 at 5:00 p.m.

        The Rockets closed out their regular season last Friday in Savage Arena with an 89-70 Senior Night victory over the Cardinals to gain a split of their season series. BSU posted an 81-67 win in Muncie on Feb. 6, one of UT's four league losses this season.

        Marreon Jackson closed out his Savage Arena career in style by tallying 22 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists for his second triple-double in five games. The Rockets trailed 52-51 with 11:25 to play when Jackson hit back-to-back three-pointers to put Toledo ahead for good. The Cardinals then crept within 63-60 with just under eight minutes remaining when the Rockets exploded for a 21-2 run to put the game away.

        Jackson leads Toledo with 17.6 ppg, 6.2 apg (No. 10 nationally), 1.9 spg (No. 3 in MAC) and a 91.2 FT% (No. 7 nationally). Ryan Rollins ranks second in team scoring at 13.8 ppg with Spencer Littleson right behind him at 13.7 ppg. Setric Millner Jr. (12.4 ppg) and JT Shumate (11.5 ppg) also scoring in double digits. Littleson leads the nation with 96 three-point FGs and a 48.5 three-point FG%,  while Millner is grabbing a team-high 6.6 rpg.

        Seniors Ishmael El-Amin and K.J. Walton lead Ball State with 16.2 and 16.0 ppg, respectively. El-Amin paced the Cardinals with 22 points last Friday, while sophomore Jarron Coleman notched a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
 
GAME INFORMATION
Date: Thursday, March 11, 2021.
Tip-Off: 11:00 a.m.
Location: Cleveland, Ohio.
Arena: Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse (20, 562).
Television: ESPN+. Michael Reghi will provide play-by-play for broadcast with Dave Bacon 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 51-48. Toledo has split its season series vs. Ball State the last three years. The Cardinals posted a 64-63 (OT) win over the Rockets in their last meeting in the MAC Tournament in 2000.

POST TOUCHES
•  Marreon Jackson ranks second on the team with 6.3 rpg and he put the Rockets on his back down the stretch by averaging 18.8 ppg, 10.6 rpg and 7.3 apg in his last nine games. He also registered two triple-doubles and six double-doubles during this time.
 • In league play, Jackson grabbed a team-high 7.1 rpg and led the MAC with 6.5 defensive rpg.
•  Jackson ranks seventh on Toledo's all-time scoring list with 1,749 career points, eight points behind Jonathan Williams (2013-17).  Jackson also is in second place with 299 three-point FGs and third place with 562 assists in Rocket history.
•  Spencer Littleson's eight treys at Kent State (Jan. 5) and vs. Oakland (Nov. 26) were one shy of the school record held by Kent Murphree on Nov. 24, 1991. Littleson's eight triples at Kent State tied Nate Navigato (2018) for most triples ever by a Rocket in a MAC game.
•  Littleson has hit four or more triples in 14 games, including 11 times in MAC play.
•  Ryan Rollins leads MAC freshmen with 13.8 ppg. He also is second on the team with  2.6 apg, third with 5.4 rpg and ranks fifth all-time for points (373) by a Rocket freshman. He trails Julius Brown (427, 2011-12), Ken Epperson (420, 1981-82), Jake Barnett (414, 2009-10) and Terry Reynolds (390, 2000-01).
•  Rollins scored a season-high 25 points vs. CMU (Jan. 19) and has two double-doubles with 16 pts. and 13 reb. at Marshall (Dec. 16) as well as 16 pts. and 11 boards vs. NIU (Dec. 22).
•  Setric Millner Jr. scored a career-high 19 points vs. Ball State last Friday and has registered two double-doubles this season. He tallied 17 points and 15 rebounds at Xavier as well as 17 points and 10 boards vs. Kansas City.
•  Prior to his 19-point outing vs. the Cardinals, Millner had scored a season-high 17 points on six occasions.
•  JT Shumate tallied a career-high 33 points and set a school record by making 11-of-11 shots (5-of-5 3PTFG) at Miami (Jan. 26). Shumate, whose sister Katie is a sophomore guard at Kent State, transferred to Toledo from NCAA Division II Walsh University last spring and received immediate eligibility in mid-December.
•  Shumate ranks among the MAC leaders in two categories in league play. He is tied for second with 1.4 bpg and third with a a 62.4 FG%.
•  Mattia Acunzo ranks second on the team with a 52.2 FG% and has a 40.0 3FG% (14-of-35). Acunzo has knocked down 21 of his last 23 free throws, including 16 straight before a 6-of-8 outing from the line vs. Ball State.
•  Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk is in his 11th season at the Rockets' helm and has guided Toledo to five 20-win campaigns in the last eight years, marking the first time for this accomplishment since Bob Nichols recorded five straight 20-win seasons from 1976-81.
•  Kowalczyk ranks second on Toledo's all-time win list with 204 victories. Nichols ranks first with a MAC-best 376 wins.
 
SOME TEAM STATISTICAL TIDBITS
•  Toledo ranks eighth in the CollegeInsider.com's Mid-Major Top 25 poll (March 1). Toledo is also the MAC's top ranked team in the KenPom (No. 59) and NET (No. 63) rankings.
•  Toledo ranks No. 14 in kenpom.com's Offensive Efficiency ranking.
•  UT won MAC regular-season titles prior to this year in 1953-54 (10-1), 1966-67 (11-1), 1971-72 (7-3), 1978-79 (13-3), 1979-80 (14-2), 1980-81 (10-6), 2006-07 (14-2) and 2013-14 (14-4).
•  Toledo ranks in the Top 15 nationally in seven categories (through games of March 7) - 1st in 3PTFGs made (292), 2nd with 10.8 3PTFGs/game, tied for 10th with a 78.5 FT%, 11th with a 1.50 A/TO ratio, tied for 12th with a 38.6 3PTFG% and 14th with 81.3 ppg and a 29.0 three-point FG% defense.
•  Toledo won a school-record 15 league games this season and is the only MAC school to win 13 or more league games in three of last four years.
•  The Rockets won 13 of their 15 MAC games by nine points or more and led the league with a plus-12.0 scoring margin in conference games.
•  Five or more Rockets have scored in double digits on nine occasions with six doing so vs. Ohio (Jan. 8) and Bowling Green (Jan. 30).
•  Toledo has connected for 10 or more treys in a game in 19 of 27 contests.
•  The Rockets tied their school record for three-pointers in a game with 17 triples vs. Eastern Michigan, matching the previous mark vs. Wright State on Dec. 22, 2003.
 
TRIPLE-DOUBLE HISTORY UNDER COACH KOWALCZYK
Toledo's program went 100 years without having a triple-double and now has five in the last six seasons under Coach Kowalczyk. Marreon Jackson has tallied two of those with 18 pts., 11 asst. and 10 reb. vs. Miami and 22 pts., 13 reb. and 10 asst. vs. Ball State. 
Nathan Boothe registered the first triple-double with 12 pts., 13 reb. and 10 asst. vs. San Jose State at the Great Alaska Shooout in 2015. He was followed by 2018 MAC Player of the Year Tre'Shaun Fletcher with 20 pts., 11 reb., and 11 asst. at NIU in 2018 and Luke Knapke with 12 pts, 12 reb. and a school-record 10 blocks at Cleveland State.
 
A LOOK AT THE ROCKETS
     Toledo has registered its fifth 20-win season in the last eight years and possesses an 85-40 (.680) win-loss mark over the last three-plus seasons. Toledo won a school-record 27 games under Coach Kowalczyk in the 2013-14 campaign. The Rockets' 25 victories in 2018-19 ranked second in program history.
     The Rockets were picked to finish sixth in the Mid-American Conference according to voting from the league's 12 head coaches.
 
KNOCKING THEM DOWN
     Toledo leads the MAC and is tied for 10th nationally with a 78.5 FT%, marking its highest conversion rate at the line in Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk's tenure. The previous best is 77.2 in the 2018-19 season. Colorado ranks first with an 83.4 FT%.
 
        Toledo is the No. 1 seed in the MAC Tournament for the first time since its 2006-07 campaign. In that season, Keonta Howell and current assistant coach Justin Ingram led the Rockets to a 14-2 league record by averaging 14.7 and 14.5 ppg, respectively, but Howell was injured in the Rockets' quarterfinal win over Eastern Michigan.
 
MARREON MAKING MARK
        Senior guard Marreon Jackson earned a spot on the All-MAC Freshman Team, progressed to Honorable-Mention All-MAC honors as a sophomore and was a Second-Team All-MAC selection last season. This year, he was voted to a spot on the pre-season First-Team All-MAC squad.
        Jackson has registered a pair of triple-doubles as well as six double-doubles in his last nine games. During this stretch, he is averaging 18.8 ppg, 10.6 rpg and 7. 3 apg.
        The Rockets' co-captain nearly notched more triple-doubles this season. He tallied 24 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds at Akron before notching 19 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists vs. the Zips in Savage Arena. He also tallied 15 points, 12 boards and seven assists at Bowling Green before posting 27 points, a career-best 14 boards and eight assists vs. the Falcons at home. He also tallied 15 points, a career-high 14 rebounds and six assists at Central Michigan.
        Jackson currently ranks seventh in school history with 1,749 points. He also is second with 299 career three-point field goals and third with 562 career assists and ranks fifth in MAC history in three-pointers.
 
LITTLESON LAUNCHING AS ONE OF NATION'S BEST SHOOTERS
     Senior guard Spencer Littleson leads the nation with 96 three-point FGs, ranks second with a 48.7 3PTFG% is fifth with 3.56 3PTFG/game. He shot even better in league play, ranking first with 50.0 3PTFG% and 3.89 3PTFG/game. In addition, he currently holds the school record for career three-point FG% (.438), just ahead of Nick Moore's .435 mark from 1999-2003.
     Littleson ranked second in team scoring and ninth in conference action with 15.2 ppg. He set a school record this year for most treys by a Rocket (74) in a conference season. Marreon Jackson set that record last year with 63 triples. Littleson ranks second for 3PTFGs overall with 96, trailing only Jackson's total of 99 from last year.