Akron vs Buffalo 3/10/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Buffalo Bulls and the Akron Zips meet Thursday in MAC Tournament college basketball action from Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. Buffalo is 19-10 on the year. The Bulls lost to Kent State in their last outing. As for Akron, they’re 21-9 so far and coming off a win over Central Michigan. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

Buffalo was a sketchy 10-8 back in late January. The Bulls would then hit a nine-game win streak over the next month to move to 19-8. The next two games were losses for Buffalo, though: 92-76 to Toledo and 70-65 to Kent State. 

Matched up against Kent State on Friday, the Bulls trailed 26-34 by the break. Buffalo outscored Kent State 39-36 the rest of the way but still took the loss. Jeenathan Williams was the top team scorer on 18 points and five rebounds. 

Over on the Zips’ side, they started out the year on a 2-3 run but have only lost consecutive games once since then. Akron is on a five-game win streak right now, beating Eastern Michigan, Bowling Green, Ohio, Ball State and Central Michigan. 

In last Friday’s Central Michigan game, the Zips were down 22-25 going into the second half. Akron hit a 35-31 run from there and got the comeback win 57-56. Leading the way was Xavier Castaneda with 17 points and seven rebounds. 

The Zips are 4-1 ATS in the last five Thursday games and 2-5 ATS in their last seven after an ATS loss. Akron is 4-1 ATS in their last five overall. 

Meanwhile, the Bulls are 0-5 ATS in their last five after an ATS loss and 0-6 ATS in their last six overall. The under is 4-0 in Buffalo’s last four Thursday games.

PICK: I’m going to take a shot on the Bulls here. Buffalo has been on a great scoring run lately. They’ve hit 70 or more points in 10 of their last 11 games, going 9-2 during that time. The last time these teams met up was back on New Year’s Day; Akron secured an 88-76 home win in that matchup. I think Buffalo has a talented enough offense to keep a good pace here and I like them to power out a cover. Should be a great matchup regardless.