Ball State vs Kent State 1/4/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Kent State Golden Flashes and the Ball State Cardinals meet in college basketball MAC-tion from Worthen Arena on Tuesday night.

The Kent State Golden Flashes will look to build on a 66-63 win over Toledo last time out. Sincere Carry leads the Golden Flashes in scoring and assists with 15.9 PPG and 4.8 APG while Malique Jacobs has 11.8 PPG and a team-high 6.9 RPG to lead the Golden Flashes on the glass. As the only other double-digit scorer for Kent State so far this season. Justyn Hamilton has 9.6 PPG and 6.4 RPG while Giovanni Santiago also has 9.3 PPG this season. As a team, Kent State is averaging 70 PPG on 42.7% shooting from the field, 31.3% from three and 81% from the foul line while allowing 62.3 PPG on 39.4% shooting from the field and 29.2% from three this season.

The Ball State Cardinals will look to add to back-to-back wins after an 81-80 win over Bowling Green in their last matchup. Luke Bumbalough leads the Cardinals in scoring and assists with 13.2 PPG and 3.5 APG while Payton Sparks has 10.4 PPG with a team-high 6 RPG to lead Ball State on the glass and Tyler Cochran has 10.1 PPG with 5.1 RPG to make up the trio of double-digit scorers for Ball State up to this point in the year. Miryne Thomas has 9.4 PPG with 5 RPG as well and Jalen Windham’s contributing 8.7 PPG as well on the year. As a team, Ball State is averaging 74.9 PPG on 44.2% shooting from the field, 37.2% from three and 67.3% from the foul line while allowing 78.1 PPG on 45.4% shooting from the field and 38.5% from three this season.

Kent State is 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games overall and 2-7 ATS in their last 9 games following a win while the under is 6-1 in their last 7 road games. Ball State is 13-3 ATS in their last 16 home games against a team with a losing road record and 3-7 ATS in their last 10 games following a win while the over is 14-4 in their last 18 home games.

Both teams have had their ups and downs as of late but I’m not sure how much sense this line makes. Ball State’s unbeaten at home this season and any success Toledo has had has been in their own building. I just don’t think that Kent State should be the one laying points here, so I’ll side with Ball State and the points in this one.