The Kent State Golden Flashes and the UTEP Miners meet Thursday in college basketball action from Don Haskins Center. Kent State is 9-3 so far and coming off a win over New Mexico State. As for UTEP, they’re 8-3 overall and beat North Carolina A&T on Wednesday. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Kent State has losses to Charleston, Houston and Gonzaga so far this year. The victories have come versus Northern Kentucky, Baldwin Wallace, Portland, AR-Pine Bluff, Chicago State, SD State, Cleveland State, Concord and New Mexico State.
In the Wednesday game versus New Mexico State, the Flashes were up 37-29 by halftime. Kent State cruised on a 36-34 advantage from there in a 73-63 win. Leading scorer Malique Jacobs put up 17 points with four rebounds.
Over on the UTEP side, they’ve lost to Texas, New Mexico State and DePaul. The Miners’ wins have come versus New Mexico State, Sul Ross State, Alcorn State, CSUB, Texas A&M-CC, Northern New Mexico, LA Tech and NC A&T.
In Wednesday’s matchup versus North Carolina A&T, the Miners took a 31-27 lead into the break. UTEP scored another 44 points from there in a 75-62 victory. Tops on the team was Shamar Givance with 18 points and three assists.
PICK: I’m probably going to stay with Kent State. Also probably not touching this one. The Flashes put up a nice effort versus New Mexico State on Wednesday, shooting 46.6 percent from the floor with 34 rebounds and 13 team assists. Kent State hasn’t been the most aggressive offensive team lately but they’ve hit 66 or more points in each of the last five games. If the Flashes can keep that trend going I think they’ll cover. That said, UTEP is playing pretty well over their last four games outside of a loss to DePaul. This matchup is going to be interesting.