The Ball State Cardinals and the Ohio Bobcats meet in college basketball MAC-tion from the Ohio Convocation Center on Friday night.
The Ball State Cardinals will be out to rebound from an 81-71 loss to Miami-Ohio in their last matchup. K.J. Walton leads the Cardinals in scoring with 16.7 PPG to go along with 5.9 RPG while Ishmael El-Amin is 2nd in scoring with 14.8 PPG and 3.4 APG to make up the duo of double-digit scorers for Ball State coming into this matchup. Brachen Hazen has 0.5 PPG with 5.4 RPG and Miryne Thomas has 8.5 PPG with 6 RPG this season to lead Ball State in rebounding. As a team, Ball State is averaging 72.8 PPG on 44.3% shooting from the field, 33.8% from 3-point range and 70.7% from the foul line while allowing 71.8 PPG on 42.9% shooting from the field and 31% from 3-point range this season.
The Ohio Bobcats will look to bounce back after an 89-79 loss to Kent State in their last matchup. Jason Preston leads the Bobcats in scoring and assists with 18.3 PPG and 7.8 APG to go along with 6 RPG while Doug Wilson III has 14.8 PPG and a team-high 7.5 RPG this season. Ben Vander Plas has 13.5 PPG with 5.5 RPG and 3.8 APG while Ben Roderick has 12.1 PPG to finish off the group of double-digit scorers for Ohio up to this point in the year. Lunden McDay has 9.5 PPG and Mark Sears has 8.1 PPG with 3.6 APG this season. As a team, Ohio is averaging 79.8 PPG on 48.5% shooting from the field, 37.3% from 3-point range and 68.1% from the foul line while giving up 74.5 PPG on 46.2% shooting from the field and 35.6% from 3-point range this season.
Ball State is 6-13 ATS in their last 19 road games and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 road games against a team with a winning home record while the over is 14-2 in their last 16 games overall. Ohio is 9-3 ATS in their last 12 home games and 2-6 ATS in their last 8 games overall while the over is 6-1 in their last 7 games overall. The road team is 6-2 ATS in the last 8 meetings between these two teams.
I was having a tough time trying to sort out a side in this one, but looking at the numbers just on the surface, these two teams are an absolutely ridiculous 19-4 to the over this season. Whether it’s these two or their opponents doing the damage, these two teams just have a habit of playing in high-scoring games and I think this is no different. I’ll take the over in this one.