The Kent State Golden Flashes (11-3, 1-0 MAC) meet the Miami (Ohio) Redhawks (6-8, 0-1) Saturday at Millett Hall in Oxford, Ohio. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET (ESPN3). Below, we analyze Tipico Sportsbook’s lines around the Kent State vs. Miami-Ohio odds, and make our expert college basketball picks, predictions and bets.
The Golden Flashes opened conference play with an 80-72 win over visiting Western Michigan Tuesday, although they didn’t come close to covering the 17.5-point number. After opening 10-0 ATS this season, Kent State has failed to cover the past 2 outings. The Over against WMU also snapped a 4-0 Under run.
The Redhawks were tripped up 68-56 at Central Michigan in their MAC opener Tuesday, and have alternated straight-up losses and wins in the past 8 games overall while going 1-4 ATS across the past 5 games with a spread. The Over is 3-1 in its previous 4 games with a total.
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Kent State at Miami (Ohio) odds
Provided by Tipico Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated at 8 a.m. ET.
- Moneyline (ML): Kent State -800 (bet $800 to win $100) | Miami (Ohio) +500 (bet $100 to win $500)
- Against the spread (ATS): Kent State -11.5 (-120) | Miami (Ohio) +11.5 (+100)
- Over/Under (O/U): 145.5 (O: -110 | U: -110)
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Kent State at Miami (Ohio) picks and predictions
Prediction
Kent State 76, Miami (Ohio) 67
Moneyline
AVOID.
You cannot play Kent State (-800), risking 8 times your potential return. That’s a silly long-term betting strategy.
Against the spread
MIAMI (OHIO) +11.5 (+100) will certainly have trouble trying to solve the defense of Kent State, which holds the opposition to just 61.6 PPG (31st) while limiting teams to 38.1% from the field (16th).
Miami’s defense is terrible, and that will be the difference in terms of a straight-up win and loss. However, the Redhawks are decent enough offensively, going for 75.0 PPG to hold their own, and Miami is one of the best free-throw shooting teams in the nation at 80.1% (5th).
Over/Under
UNDER 145.5 (-110) is the lean, although it’s only worth playing at a half-unit at best.
The Under has hit in 4 of the past 5 games overall for Kent State, while going an impressive 19-7 in the past 26 games on the road over the past few seasons. For Miami, it has cashed the Over in 14 of the past 20 games overall, but the Under did cash last time out in its only conference game to date.
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