Kent State vs Western Michigan 1/3/23 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Western Michigan Broncos and the Kent State Golden Flashes meet in college basketball action from the MAC Center on Tuesday night.

The Western Michigan Broncos will look to rebound from a 76-66 loss to Wisconsin in their last game. Lamar Norman Jr. leads the Broncos in scoring with 17.8 PPG and 2.4 APG while Tray Maddox Jr. has 11.1 PPG as well to cap off the pair of double-digit scorers for Western Michigan so far this season while Markeese Hastings leads the Broncos in rebounding with 9.2 RPG as well this season. Jefferson Monegro has a team-high 2.5 APG to lead the Broncos in assists this season. As a team, Western Michigan is averaging 68.4 PPG on 44.2% shooting from the field, 33.7% from three and 68.2% from the foul line so far this season.

The Kent State Golden Flashes will try to build on a four-game win streak after a 47-46 win over UTEP last time out. Sincere Carry leads the Golden Flashes in scoring and assists with 16.9 PPG and 5.1 APG while Malique Jacobs has 12.8 PPG with 2.6 APG and Miryne Thomas has 11.2 PPG with 5.4 RPG to cap off the group of double-digit scorers for Kent State up to this point in the season. Cli’Ron Hornbeak has a team-high 6.1 RPG to lead Kent State on the glass this season. As a team, Kent State is averaging 74.8 PPG on 44.4% shooting from the field, 34% from three and 76.1% from the foul line this season.

Western Michigan is 2-7 ATS in their last 9 games overall and 8-2 ATS in their last 10 games with a winning record while the under is 4-1 in their last 5 games following an ATS win. Kent State is 21-5-1 ATS in their last 27 games overall and 13-2-1 ATS in their last 16 home games while the under is 4-0 in their last 4 games overall.

I get the case to be made for either side in this game, but I’m looking at the under here. Western Michigan’s offense has fallen off of a cliff for the most part over the last month and that’s not good against a Kent State team that’s top-25 in scoring defense and has put the clamps down on much better than what they face here. On the other side, Kent State should be favored and I do like them here, but their occasional scoring issues make it hard to feel good about laying these big numbers. Give me the under here.