The Cleveland State Vikings (7-13) and Youngstown State Penguins (7-13) will be playing at the Quicken Loans Arena for this game. Action begins at 1:00 pm ET on Sunday, Jan. 24 and can be seen on ES3.
The Vikings enter this game hoping for similar success after topping UIC 70-53 in their last matchup. Rob Edwards was the game’s leading scorer with 24 points on 7-for-14 shooting. The Penguins, meanwhile, are feeling some disappointment after their ugly 96-65 loss against Valparaiso in their last game. Cameron Morse led the game in scoring with 23 points.
Morse has been hot for the Penguins, averaging 26.4 points, 2.4 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 0.6 steals, and 2.2 three-pointers over the past five games.
It’s a matchup of two different tempos, as the fast-paced Penguins (ranked 12th in the nation in possessions per game) square off against the grind-it-out Vikings (336th).
Cleveland State is a five-point favorite against Youngstown State and the Over/Under (O/U) for this game is sitting at 144 points. The Vikings come into this game 7-13 Straight Up (SU) and 8-10 Against The Spread (ATS).
As for their opponent, the Penguins have records of 8-8 ATS and 7-13 SU.
This game marks the season’s first head-to-head clash between these conference foes. Their previous game was a Vikings victory, bumping their SU record to 7-3 over Youngstown State in their most recent meetings. On the other hand, Youngstown State holds the advantage ATS with a record of 5-4-1. Cleveland State and Youngstown State each held the advantage in field goals, rebounds, and three-pointers one time over the last five matchups.
Predictions: SU Winner – CleSt, ATS Winner – YSU, O/U – Over
Notes
Cleveland State is 2-5 SU in its last 7 games.
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Cleveland State’s last 7 games.
Cleveland State is 16-7 SU in its last 23 games at home.
Cleveland State is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games when playing Youngstown State.
Cleveland State is 1-6 ATS in its last 7 games when playing at home against Youngstown State.
The total has gone UNDER in 7 of Cleveland State’s last 10 games when playing at home against Youngstown State.
Youngstown State scores an average of just 74.7 points per game (ranked 155th). Cleveland State ranks 83rd in points allowed, giving up 67.2 points per game.
Youngstown State lost its last game by a 31-point margin. In games decided by a margin of 18 points or more, Cleveland State is 1-3. Youngstown State is 2-6 in blowouts this season.
The Cleveland State Vikings average a field goal percentage of 41.4% this season. The Youngstown State Penguins have a subpar record of 2-12 when opponents have a FG% of 41.4% or greater.
The Cleveland State Vikings rank higher based on their field goal percentage (295th) than their effective field goal percentage (306th). The Youngstown State Penguins rank higher based on their effective field goal percentage (227th) than their field goal percentage (248th).
Youngstown State ranks 100th in assists, recording 14.8 per game. Cleveland State performs worse at 326th with 10.8 assists per game.
Cleveland State has forced an average turnover percentage of 21.1% this season. Youngstown State has a losing 1-3 record when its TO% is 21.1% or higher.
