IUPUI vs Cleveland State Prediction 1/19/25 College Basketball Picks Today

The Cleveland State Vikings and the IUPUI Jaguars meet Sunday in college basketball action from the Jungle. Here’s an IUPUI vs Cleveland State prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best IUPUI vs Cleveland State pick.

Cleveland State Vikings Betting Preview

It’s been a tale of two halves so far this year for the Vikings. Cleveland State stumbled out of the gate on a rough run over their first 10 outings, but in the last nine games, they’ve really cleaned up their act via a series of wins. The Vikings went just 4-6 in those first 10 games, featuring wins over only Baldwin Wallace, Valparaiso, Eastern Michigan, and NJIT among losses to Michigan, Kansas State, Minnesota, Kent State, Morehead State, and Milwaukee. Over their last nine games, however, Cleveland State has taken wins in every outing. Those victories have come courtesy of Green Bay, Brescia, Oakland, Midway University, Wright State, IUPUI, Robert Morris, Youngstown State, and Northern Kentucky in succession for a 13-6 overall record so far.

In the Northern Kentucky matchup on Wednesday, the Vikings came out of halftime with a 35-28 edge. Cleveland State kept it up in the second on a 41-30 run and took the eventual win 76-58. Tahj Staveskie led the team with 20 points with two rebounds, while Chase Robinson came off the bench for 13 points, three boards, three assists, and two steals in 28 minutes of work. Reece Robinson doubled up on 11 points, 10 rebounds, and three assists, while Dylan Arnett chipped in 11 points with four boards and two assists in 24 minutes on the floor.

IUPUI Jaguars Betting Preview

Over on the IUPUI side, their year opened on a middling .500 run through the first 10 games. The Jaguars have really hit the skids since early December, though. IUPUI beat IU Columbus, Goshen, Alabama A&M, Trinity Christian IL, and Green Bay in their first 10 games. The losses otherwise were versus Xavier, Eastern Michigan, Iowa State, Coastal Carolina, and South Carolina State. Since then it’s been an ugly 1-8 stretch. The lone win came over Detroit. Otherwise, it was losses to Northern Kentucky, Fort Wayne, Lindenwood, Florida International, Milwaukee, Youngstown State, Cleveland State, and Oakland in that stretch, resulting in a 6-13 overall run through the first 19 games of the season for the Jaguars.

Matched up against Oakland in their Wednesday game, IUPUI held a double-digit deficit 36-25. The Jaguars didn’t end up getting any closer on a  36-34 run from there and limped to a 72-59 loss in the end. Leading the team during the losing effort was Jarvis Walker with 16 points, four assists, three steals, and two rebounds. The only other player on the team to finish in double-figures was Sean Craig with 13 points, eight boards, two assists and five turnovers. Both Alec Millender (three assists) and Timaris Brown (two rebounds off the bench) chipped in six points apiece during the loss.

Why the IU Indy Jaguars will win

• The home team has won seven of IU Indy’s last eight games.
• The home team has won the first half in seven of Cleveland State’s last eight games.

Why the Cleveland State Vikings will win

• IU Indy has lost each of its last 15 day games against the Horizon League.
• Cleveland State has won each of its last 12 games against IU Indy.
• Cleveland State has won the first half in each of its last seven games against IU Indy.

IUPUI vs Cleveland State Prediction

I’ll stick with Cleveland State. The Vikings are looking quite good these days, and they’re coming off another solid win during this streak. Cleveland hung 48.4 percent shooting and a 35-31 rebounding edge on a middling Northern Kentucky team in their last outing, posting a nice 23 points on 18 Norse turnovers along the way. During this current nine-game win streak, Cleveland State has notched 67 or more points in every game, and 76 or more in eight of them. Another big scoring outing here and the Vikings will be well on their way to a cover.

As for IUPUI, they were outmuscled on the boards 30-26 and had 15 turnovers for 19 Grizzlies points in their latest loss to Oakland. The Jaguars have been below 62 points in three of the last four games (all three were losses) so if they can’t get it together offensively Cleveland State will waltz in this one.