Akron vs Kent State Prediction 2/28/25 College Basketball Picks Today

The Kent State Golden Flashes and the Akron Zips meet Friday in college basketball action from James A Rhodes Arena. Here’s an Akron vs Kent State prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Akron vs Kent State pick.

Kent State Golden Flashes Betting Preview

The Golden Flashes had a spotty run going back in January, but otherwise, they’ve looked pretty good in the record column so far this season. Kent State opened up on an 11-4 run with wins over Louisiana, Miami Hamilton, Niagara, Cleveland State, Towson, Kennesaw State, Portland, Mercyhurst, Heidelberg, Northern Illinois, and Buffalo. A 2-4 run came next with wins over Toledo and Bowling Green among losses to Western Michigan, Miami OH, Ohio, and Akron. Since then it’s been a 6-1 run with a lone loss to Miami OH. Otherwise, the wins have come versus Eastern Michigan, Arkansas State, Central Michigan, Ohio, Bowling Green, and Toledo. In total that gives the Flashes a 19-9 overall run through 28 games so far this year.

In the Toledo matchup on Tuesday, the Golden Flashes came out of the break with a 54-30 advantage. Kent State kept it going in the second with a 51-35 stretch and took the blowout victory in the end 105-65. Leading the team in scoring was VonCameron Davis with 21 points and one rebound in 28 minutes of work. Delrecco Gillespie added 16 points with six boards and four steals, while Jamal Sumlin led the bench scoring 20 points, six rebounds, seven assists, and two steals in 32 minutes. Marqus Barnett chipped in with 19 points, two rebounds, and three steals in 19 minutes off the bench during the win as well.

Akron Zips Betting Preview

Over on the Akron side, they were fairly choppy in their opening dozen games, but they’ve been great since the calendar flipped to 2025. The Zips went 7-5 to start though, taking losses to Arkansas State, Saint Mary’s, Milwaukee, Yale, and Princeton. Since then Akron has just one loss to Ohio on February 22. Otherwise, it’s been wins over Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Toledo, Ohio, Buffalo, Miami OH, Northern Illinois, Kent State, Ball State, South Alabama, Western Michigan, Central Michigan, Northern Illinois, and Ball State in that time. That gives Akron a 22-6 overall run through their first 28 outings of the season.

On Tuesday matched up against Ball State in a road rematch, the Zips kicked things off with a 47-39 advantage in the first half. Akron posted a 43-40 deficit the rest of the way, holding on for an 87-82 win in the end. Tavari Johnson topped the scorers with 21 points and two assists in 17 minutes of work. Shammah Scott came off the bench for 18 points, five assists, and three rebounds, while Amani Lyles had 11 bench points with eight rebounds and three assists. Nate Johnson added 10 points with nine rebounds and three assists in 36 minutes of work as well.

Akron vs Kent State Prediction

I’ll try Kent State in this one, but you could call it either way. The Flashes destroyed a decent Toledo team in a home win during their last outing, posting a stellar 58.9 percent shooting with a 43-24 rebounding advantage and just eight turnovers. Kent State held the Rockets to just 2-of-13 (15.4 percent) from outside and scored 27 points off 14 Toledo turnovers. That gives the Flashes 91 or more points in four of the last five games—a 4-1 run.

Kent State took an 85-71 home loss the last time these teams met up, back on January 31. The Flashes didn’t shoot well (34.9 percent) and gave up 47.5 percent shooting to Akron. Outside of the 41-31 rebounding deficit, that was really the only other major disparity. Kent State needs a complete effort here in a tricky matchup, but I think they can pull it off if all goes well. Should be a great game to watch.