It’s a big night in the MAC, the 2nd and 3rd place teams, Akron and Toledo are head-to-head and so are the first place Kent State Golden Flashes and fourth place Ball State Cardinals in this one. Kent State desperately needs to win out to protect their bid for the regular season title. The Golden Flashes are 22-5 (12-2), but Ball State isn’t just trying to play spoiler, the Cardinals still have an outside shot at winning the conference with a 19-8 (10-4) record.
Ball State lost last time out, but before that they had won five straight. When they visited Kent State on January 20, the Golden Flashes dominated, 86-65. Yet, Kent State is a very slim favorite on the road today.
Kent State vs. Ball State odds, spread and total
Kent State vs. Ball State prediction and pick
Ball State fell to Western Michigan last time out, 78-68. Western Michigan is 7-20 and 3-11 in the conference after that win. It was a huge trap game with the Cardinals looking ahead to their second shot at Kent State today.
Kent State is a very strong defensive team, they are 34th in opponent scoring allowing just 63.6 points a game. They are 10th in defensive efficiency, 0.900, but in their last three games their efficiency is 0.804. They shut down Ball State’s leading scorer, Jarron Coleman in their last meeting. Coleman who averages 14.9 points a game to just seven. He’ll need to have a much bigger game for his side to pull the upset.
Ball State is 50th in offensive efficiency, and they are a strong shooting team. The Cardinals hit 37.6% from three, but attempted the fewest amount in the MAC. Ball State clearly was looking ahead to this game, they wasted an easy win against Western Michigan, and it’s scary to back a road favorite in conference play. I think this is Ball State’s game of the year and I’ll take the Cardinals. They’re efficient enough on offense to hang around and maybe even pull the upset.
Follow all Josh Yourish’s bets HERE
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change
