Indiana vs Kent State Pick – Basketball Predictions & Odds 3/17/23
Kent State Golden Flashes (28-6) vs. Indiana Hoosiers (22-11)
March 17, 2023 9:55 pm EDT
The Line: Indiana Hoosiers -4.5 / Kent State Golden Flashes +4.5 ; Over/Under:
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The Kent State Golden Flashes and the Indiana Hoosiers meet Friday in NCAA Tournament First Round college basketball action from Times Union Center. Kent State is 28-6 overall this year. The Flashes beat Toledo in the MAC Tournament championship on Saturday. As for Indiana, they’re sitting at 22-11 on the season after a loss to Penn State in their Saturday matchup. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Kent State Golden Flashes
Kent State went through the regular season on a 25-6 run. The Golden Flashes closed on a three-game win streak over Bowling Green, Ohio and Akron. Kent State beat NIU 76-57 and Akron 79-73 in their first two games of the conference tourney.
On Saturday versus Toledo, the Flashes were up 35-34 going into the second half. Kent State hit a 58-44 run from there and took the victory 93-78. Sincere Carry was tops on 26 points and Malique Jacobs put up 18 points with 13 rebounds.
Indiana Hoosiers
Over on the Indiana side, they were 21-10 by the end of the regular season. The Hoosiers’ final four outings were a 2-2 stretch with losses to Michigan State and Iowa, however. Indiana took care of Maryland 70-60 last Friday in the Big Ten Tournament.
On Saturday against Penn State, the Hoosiers were down 34-26 in the locker room. Indiana hit a 47-43 second half but couldn’t come back in a 77-73 defeat. Trayce Jackson-Davis was the team’s leading scorer on 24 points and 10 rebounds.
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I’ll stick with Indiana in this one. The Hoosiers ran into a scrappy Penn State team in their last game during the conference tournament, and didn’t have a very good first half. Indiana ended up shooting a nice 47 percent from the field but went just 2-of-14 (14.3 percent) from 3-point range and got out-rebounded 38-30. That said, Indiana is still scoring well with 68 or more points in five straight games. As for Kent State, they should be able to post a nice effort here as well. The Flashes have hit 70 or more points in 11 straight games, so the offense is working just fine. I like Kent State to hang around for most of the game here, but Indiana should take care of business.
