The 2025–26 Ball State Cardinals men's basketball team represented Ball State University during the 2025–26 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Cardinals, led by fourth-year head coach Michael Lewis, played their home games at Worthen Arena in Muncie, Indiana as members of the Mid-American Conference. They finished the 2025–26 season 12–19, 7–11 in MAC play, to finish in a three-way tie for 7th place. They failed to qualify for the MAC tournament due to tiebrakers.
Previous season The Cardinals finished the 2024–25 season 14–17, 7–11 in MAC play, to finish in a tie for ninth place. They failed to qualify for the MAC tournament, as only the top eight teams qualify.
Offseason Departures Departures Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Reason for departure Jermahri Hill 1 G 6'5" 185 Bessemer, Alabama Transferred to George Mason Ethan Brittain-Watts 2 G 6'1" 205 Indianapolis, Indiana Exhausted eligibility Mickey Pearson Jr. 3 F 6'8" 205 Lincoln, Alabama Entered the transfer portal Juanse Gorosito 4 G 6'1" 190 Ceres Santa Fe, Argentina Transferred to San Diego Payton Sparks 5 C 6'10" 265 Winchester, Indiana Entered the transfer portal Jurica Zagorsak 12 G 6'8" 235 Zadar, Croatia Left team; signed with KK Samobor TJ Burch 22 G 6'1" 170 Dallas, Texas Transferred to Wright State Jeremiah Hernandez 33 G 6'5" 192 Chicago, Illinois Exhausted eligibility Ben Hendriks 34 C 6'10" 248 Mississauga, Ontario Graduated Zane Doughty 54 C 6'9" 242 Indianapolis, Indiana Left due to personal reasons
Incoming transfers Incoming transfers Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Previous school Elmore James IV 1 G 6'3" 210 Cleveland, Ohio Ohio Davion Hill 2 G 6'2" 225 Williamsport, Pennsylvania Northwest Florida State College Juwan Maxey 3 G 6'0" 175 Detroit, Michigan Youngstown State Kayden Fish 4 F 6'6" 245 Kansas City, Missouri Iowa State Armoni Zeigler 5 G 6'4" 200 Amityville, New York Saint Peter's Cam Denson 7 F 6'7" 215 Compton, California Long Beach State Devon Barnes 13 G 6'1" 180 Hinesville, Georgia UTEP
2025 recruiting class
Preseason On October 21, 2025, the MAC released their preseason poll. Ball State was picked to finish eighth in the conference.
Preseason rankings +MAC Preseason Poll Place Team Votes 1 143 (11) 2 133 (2) 3 122 4 108 5 98 6 95 7 73 8 Ball State 62 9 52 10 46 11 37 12 31 13 14
Source:
Preseason All-MAC Teams No players were named to either the First or Second Preseason All-MAC Teams.
Roster
Schedule and results
!colspan=12 style=""| Exhibition
!colspan=12 style=""| Regular season
Sources:
References