Kent State vs Akron 3/12/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Akron Zips & Kent State Golden Flashes will square off at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse this Saturday night in the Finals of the MAC Championship.

The 4-seed Akron Zips improved to 23-9 on the season after upsetting the 1-seed Toledo Rockets, 70-62, last night. Akron was outstanding defensively against the high-scoring Toledo offense and was able to hold off the Rockets for the victory after taking a 59-51 lead with 7:38 left in regulation. Akron shot 47.2% from the field & 34.8% from beyond the arc while allowing Toledo to shoot 44.4% from the field & 26.7% from beyond the arc. Leading the way for the Zips was Xavier Castaneda who had 26 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, & 1 steal.

Coming into their game against Toledo, Akron was averaging 71.1 ppg on 46.0% shooting from the field. The Zips were averaging 7.8 three-pointers per game on 35.3% shooting from beyond the arc. Offensively, Akron has been led by Ali Ali (14.2 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 2.6 apg), Xavier Castaneda (13.0 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 2.4 apg), Enrique Freeman (12.9 ppg, 10.9 rpg, 1.4 apg, 1.3 bpg), & Greg Trible (7.3 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 2.1 apg, 1.2 spg).

Defensively, prior to their game against Toledo, Akron was holding their opponents to an average of 63.1 ppg on 42.2% shooting from the field. The Zips had a rebound margin of 4.4 and a turnover margin of 0.2.

The 2-seed Kent State Golden Flashes improved to 23-9 on the season after defeating the 3-seed Ohio Bobcats, 67-61, last night. Akron was outstanding on both ends of the court in the 1^st half and was able to hold off Ohio for the victory after taking a 52-37 lead with 8:43 left in regulation. Kent State shot 45.6% from the field & 35.3% form beyond the arc while holding Ohio to 40.4% shooting from the field & 33.3% from beyond the arc. Leading the way for the Golden Flashes was Malique Jacobs who had a double-double with 21 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists, & 2 steals.

Coming into their game against Ohio, Kent State was averaging 71.7 ppg no 44.0% shooting from the field. The Golden Flashes were averaging 7.5 three-pointers per game on 32.7% shooting from beyond the arc. Offensively, Kent State has been led by Sincere Carry (18.6 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 4.9 apg, 1.5 spg), Malique Jacobs (12.3 ppg, 7.7 rpg, 3.0 apg, 1.5 spg), Giovanni Santiago (8.8 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 2.0 apg, 1.3 spg), & Justyn Hamilton (8.4 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 1.3 bpg).

Defensively, prior to their game against Ohio, Kent State was holding their opponents to an average of 64.5 ppg on 40.5% shooting from the field. The Golden Flashes had a rebound margin of 4.1 and a turnover margin of 1.5.

The Zips are 6-1 Ats in their last 7 games overall & 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games following a ATS win. The Golden Flashes are 9-1 ATS in their last 10 games following a ATS win & 4-1 ATS in their last 5 neutral site games.

Kent State was able to defeat Akron in both of their regular season matchups as the Golden Flashes defeated the Zips by a 67-55 margin at home in mid-January and by a 66-64 margin on the road in mid-February.

Akron has been led by their defense which ranks 27^th in scoring defense & 56^th in rebound margin, however, the offense has struggled at times to put up points as the Zips rank just 170^th in scoring offense. Kent State has also been led by their defense which ranks 41^st in scoring defense, 38^th in defensive FG%, & 67^th in rebound margin, however, the offense has been nothing more than average, ranking 158^th in scoring offense.

Akron has picked up some impressive wins over Buffalo & Toledo, however, this is still a team that can struggle to put up points. Kent State has looked like the team to beat in the MAC over the last month and as I think the Golden Flashes defense gives Akron a bunch of trouble in this one, I’m taking Kent State to cover this small spread. Good Luck!