KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan men's basketball team has a pair of road games this week, beginning on Tuesday evening down in Athens against Ohio. 

GAME INFO

Matchup: Western Michigan (6-13, 2-4 MAC) at Ohio (10-9, 2-4 MAC)

Date/Time: Tuesday, Jan. 24 – 7 pm

Site: Convocation Center (Athens, Ohio)

Video: ESPN+

Radio: Bronco Media Network

Live Stats: StatBroadcast

OPENING TIP

• After winning both of its home games last week, Western Michigan hits the road on Tuesday evening to face Ball State. 
• The Broncos rallied from a double-digit halftime deficit on Saturday afternoon to beat Bowling Green, 108-92. 
• Six WMU players scored in double-figures, which tied its season high. 
• JaVaughn Hannah paced the Broncos with a career-high 24 points, while Lamar Norman Jr. added 22 points, 21 of which came in the second half. 
• Western Michigan tallied 69 points and shot 69.7% (23-of-33) from the field and 90.5% (19-of-21) in the second half.
• WMU committed a season-low four turnovers on Saturday afternoon. 
• Tuesday marks the 138th all-time meeting between Western Michigan and Ball State.
• The Cardinals hold a 70-67 edge in the series, and have won six of the last seven.
• Western Michigan's last win at Worthen Arena came on Feb. 23, 2018. 

ON THE ROAD AGAIN
Western Michigan hits the road for both of its games this week, starting on Tuesday night down in Athens against Ohio. 

LAST TIME OUT
The Broncos are coming off of a tight loss, 63-55, to Akron on Saturday at University Arena. Markeese Hastings led WMU in both points (18) and rebounds (10) to secure his fifth double-double of the season. Western Michigan dominated the rebounding battle to the tune of a 47-31 edge on the glass. Turnovers proved to be the difference, as the Zips forced 15 and committed just three. 

DOUBLE TROUBLE
In Saturday's setback, Markeese Hastings paced Western Michigan with 18 points and 10 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season and ninth of his career. It also marked Hastings' 11th double-digit rebounding performance of the season, which is second-most in the conference. 

CLEANING THE GLASS
Western Michigan held a 47-31 advantage in rebounding on Saturday, making it 14 of 18 games this season WMU has won the battle on the boards. The plus-16 rebounding margin was the best in a MAC game for the Broncos since posting a plus-18 (48-30) differential against Ball State on March 2, 2019. WMU currently is atop the conference in both rebounding margin (+8.3/game) and offensive rebounding (12.4), and ranks second behind Ohio in total rebounding (38.5). Nationally, Western Michigan ranks seventh in rebounding margin, 39th in offensive rebounding and 44th in overall rebounding.

WMU VS OHIO
Tuesday night marks the 139th all-time meeting between Western Michigan and Ohio. Winners of the last four meetings, the Bobcats lead the series 72-66.

BRONCOS IN ATHENS
The home teams have had the upperhand on both sides of the Western Michigan-Ohio series. The Broncos are just 19-50 all-time in Athens, with their last victory at the Convocation Center coming on Feb. 19, 2014.

SCOUTING THE BOBCATS
Like WMU, Ohio enters Tuesday's contest at 2-4 in league play. The Bobcats are the only team in the MAC to be averaging more rebounds per game (38.8) than the Broncos this season, thanks in large part to Dwight Wilson III. Wilson leads OU in both scoring (14.7, 13th MAC) and rebounding (9.9, 3rd). He also is the top offensive rebounder in the league (3.5) and is second in the conference with a .603 field goal percentage.

MAKING HIS MARK
WMU's Markeese Hastings is right up there with Wilson in the MAC rebounding rankings. Coming into Tuesday, Hastings is in the top-5 in the league in total rebounds (2nd, 10.0), defensive rebounds (2nd, 7.1) and offensive rebounds (4th, 3.0). Hastings is one of 17 players in NCAA DI to be averaging double-digit rebounds this season, and pulled down a career-high 20 on Jan. 6 at Toledo, one of 11 20-rebound games in DI this year. He is one of just three players from a mid-major conference to have a 20-rebound game, joining Weber State's Dillon Jones and Chattanooga's Jake Stephens. 

SCORIN' NORMAN
After being held to six points on Saturday against Akron, Lamar Norman Jr. did not reach double-figures for just the fourth time in 48 games as a Bronco. The senior has led WMU in scoring 35 times during his tenure in the Brown & Gold, including 10 times this season. Norman enters the week sixth in the MAC in scoring at 17.9 points per game.  

378 AND COUNTING
After hitting five triples on Saturday, WMU has made at least one three-pointer in 378 straight games dating back to 2011. 

HALFTIME LEADS TURN INTO W'S
The Broncos own a 54-20 record over the last five seasons when leading at halftime, including a 5-0 mark this season.

ON THE HORIZON
Western Michigan continues its week of road games on Saturday night as it travels up to Mount Pleasant for the first of two matchups against rival Central Michigan.