The Kent State Golden Flashes will be at John E. Worthen Arena to take on the Ball State Cardinals in a Mid-American matchup. The game gets underway at 7:00 pm ET on Tuesday, Jan. 19 and will air on ES3.
The Cardinals edged Miami (OH) 48-46 on Saturday. Ryan Weber had 10 points, six rebounds, and one steal for Ball State. The Golden Flashes are coming off an 89-82 win over Ohio on Saturday. Xavier Pollard led the game in scoring with 23 points on 8-for-14 shooting.
Ball State is favored by a slight two-point margin in its matchup against Kent State. The matchup currently has a 137-point Over/Under (O/U). The Cardinals look to build on their records of 12-5 Straight Up (SU) and 5-6 Against The Spread (ATS). The Ball State defense has been very good, only giving up 62.9 points per game.
Across the court, the Golden Flashes haven’t fared well ATS, sitting at 5-8. However, they are 12-5 SU. Don’t expect Kent State to give away the ball much on offense, where its 10.9 turnovers per game ranks 27th in the country.
This game marks the first time these teams will play this season. The last time these conference rivals played, Kent State won, bringing its SU record in their most recent games to 10-0. Additionally, Kent State leads the matchup ATS with a record of 8-2. Neither Ball State nor Kent State has led in three key areas (field goals, rebounds, or three-pointers) over their most recent five games.
Predictions: SU Winner – KentSt, ATS Winner – KentSt, O/U – Over
Notes
Ball State is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games.
Ball State is 10-1 SU in its last 11 games at home.
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Ball State’s last 5 games when playing Kent State.
Ball State is 1-8 ATS in its last 9 games when playing Kent State.
Ball State is 0-5 SU in its last 5 games when playing at home against Kent State.
Ball State and Kent State both hold winning records of 3-1 against the Mid-American Conference this season.
Kent State scores just 72.8 points per away game (ranked 108th). Ball State ranks 19th in points allowed at home, giving up 58.5 points.
With 66.5 possessions and 1.048 points per possession, the Ball State Cardinals perform worse on both metrics than the Kent State Golden Flashes. Kent State averages 69.0 possessions and 1.118 points per possession.
Ball State has an average effective field goal percentage of 50.9%. Kent State is a poor 2-5 when opponents have a similar or higher effective field goal percentage.
Ball State attempts an average of 21.0 three pointers per game and Kent State attempts 17.0. In games where they have 20 or more three point attempts, the Ball State Cardinals have a winning 8-4 record while the Kent State Golden Flashes have a 3-2 record.
Ball State ranks 72nd in defensive rebounding. When it comes to offensive rebounds, Kent State ranks 74th.
On average, Ball State forces a turnover rate of 19.0%. When Kent State turns over the ball at a similar or higher rate, the team has a solid 4-2 record.
