The Ball State Cardinals and the Minnesota Golden Gophers meet Thursday in college basketball action from Williams Arena. Ball State enters this one at 8-3 overall following a loss to Indiana State on Saturday. As for Minnesota, they’re coming off a win over IUPUI that lifted the Gophers to 8-3 on the year as well. Let’s get into our Ball State vs. Minnesota prediction. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

Ball State Cardinals 

Ball State managed to win eight of their first 10 games this year in a pretty solid opening run. Outside of losses to Evansville and Little Rock, the Cardinals took out Goshen, Old Dominion, Oakland City, USC Upstate, AR-Pine Bluff, Bellarmine, Detroit Mercy and SIU Edwardsville during that run. 

The Cardinals were unable to keep their win streak going on Saturday versus Indiana State, taking their third loss of the season. Ball State trailed 40-29 going into the second half and didn’t get any closer in an 83-72 result. Leading team scorer Jalin Anderson put up 18 points with eight rebounds and six assists in the losing effort. 

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Minnesota Golden Gophers 

Over on the Gophers’ side, they managed a 5-3 run through their first eight games. Minnesota lost to Missouri, San Francisco and Ohio State in that time but otherwise beat Bethune-Cookman, UTSA, USC Upstate, AR-Pine Bluff and New Orleans. The Gophers followed that up with wins over Nebraska and Florida Gulf Coast. 

Last Tuesday versus IUPUI, the Gophers made it three wins in a row. Minnesota didn’t have any issues, jumping out to a 57-27 halftime lead in a 101-65 blowout result. Cam Christie led the team on 19 points and six rebounds, while Parker Fox came off the bench to add 16 points and five boards. 

ANDREW’S FREE BALL STATE VS MINNESOTA PREDICTION 

I’ll probably just stay with Minnesota. This should be a pretty fun matchup if both teams play well, though. The Gophers didn’t have much difficulty in their last matchup versus an overwhelmed IUPUI team, hitting 62.7 percent from the field with a 40-26 rebounding advantage. Minnesota has bagged 74 or more points in five straight games, a 4-1 run. 

As for Ball State, they started pretty slowly versus a good Indiana State team in their latest loss and couldn’t keep the pace. The Cardinals have hit 68 or more points in three straight outings themselves, so I like a pretty high total in this one. Overall I think Minnesota can keep Ball State at bay, though.