Youngstown State Penguins vs Cleveland State Vikings Prediction, 12/26/2020 College Basketball Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Youngstown State Penguins vs Cleveland State Vikings

Date: Saturday, December 26, 2020

Location: Wolstein Center in Cleveland, OH

TV: ESPN3

Odds/Point Spread: Youngstown State (+2)

The Cleveland State Vikings (2-3) play the Youngstown State Penguins (4-1) at Wolstein Center on Saturday. Youngstown State opens this matchup as 2-point underdogs. The over/under is set at 139.5.

Youngstown State will play this contest with a mark of 4-1 on the year. They turn it over 9.8 times per game and as a group they are committing 15.0 fouls every game. As a unit, Youngstown State is snagging 36.0 rebounds per game and has 54 dimes for the season, which is 287th in the country in terms of passing the rock. The Penguins are connecting on 27.4% on shots beyond the perimeter (31 of 113) and 70.0% from the free throw line. They average 73.0 pts per game (171st in D-1) while hitting 40.6% from the floor. On the defensive end, the Penguins are forcing 18.2 turnovers every game and they draw 18.8 personal fouls. The Penguins defense is giving up a FG percentage of 44.9% (118 of 263) and they surrender 34.2 rebounds per game as a group. They are ranked 59th in D-1 in giving up assists to the opposition with 57 surrendered on the campaign. They relinquish 34.4% on 3-pointers and they are ranked 75th in D-1 in PPG allowed (64.4).

The Youngstown State Penguins took the court against the Northern Kentucky Norse and took home the win by a score of 70-60 in their last game. Youngstown State finished with a 41.8% field goal percentage (23 of 55) and converted 7 of 20 three-point shots. When they shot from the charity stripe, the Penguins knocked down 17 of 22 tries for a percentage of 77.3%. Concerning hauling in boards, they collected 33 with 12 of them being on the offensive end. They also recorded 8 assists for the matchup as well as earning 5 steals and 2 rejections. Pertaining to the defense, Youngstown State let their opponent shoot 41.8% from the field on 23 out of 55 shooting. Northern Kentucky doled out 11 dimes and had 5 steals for this contest. On top of that, the Norse snagged 29 boards (9 offensive, 20 defensive) and had 2 rejections. Northern Kentucky ended up shooting 88.9% at the charity stripe by converting 8 of their 9 attempts. They knocked down 6 of 22 tries from distance.

Shemar Rathan-Mayes is a player who was a major contributor in this contest. He accounted for 13 points on 4 out of 8 shooting. He was on the hardwood for 35 minutes played and also snagged 3 rebounds. Rathan-Mayes walked away from this one shooting 50.0% from the floor and also earned 3 assists. One more player that was a major contributor in this contest for the Penguins was Naz Bohannon. He had 7 rebounds and also accumulated 2 assists. He walked away from this one shooting 50.0% from the field in this matchup by shooting 7-of-14 (19 points). At the conclusion of this game, Bohannon was on the court for 32 min.

Cleveland State has a record of 2-3 for the season. Cleveland State has accounted for 320 points this season (64.0 per contest) and they pull down 31.2 rebounds per contest. The Vikings commit 22.2 personal fouls per contest while shooting 68.4% from the charity stripe. On the offensive side of the ball, the Vikings are hitting on 41.4% from the floor, which ranks them 287th in the nation. Their rate of earning assists is at 11.8 times per game (271st in D-1) and they are losing possession via turnover 15.8 times per game. The Vikings on the defensive side of the court are 272nd in college hoops in PPG surrendered with 75.8. The Cleveland State defense gives up 35.6% from downtown (42 of 118) and their opposition makes 73.2% of their shots from the charity stripe. They have conceded 14.8 dimes and 35.2 boards per game, which is 265th and 169th in college hoops. They are forcing their opponents into 14.4 turnovers per game and have let teams shoot 45.7% from the floor (272nd in D-1).

In their last game, the Cleveland State Vikings took home the win by a final score of 89-80 when they played the IPFW Mastodons. The Vikings pulled down 21 defensive rebounds and 8 offensive rebounds totaling 29 for this game. They blocked 2 tries while getting 7 steals for the game. The Mastodons committed 19 personal fouls in this contest which got the Vikings to the free throw line for a total of 26 tries. They were able to knock down 21 of those for a rate of 80.8%. When talking about shots from downtown, Cleveland State buried 12 of 26 attempts (46.2%). When all was said and done, the Vikings shot 28 for 51 from the floor which had them shooting 54.9%. The Vikings permitted the Mastodons to convert 26 out of 53 attempts from the floor which left them with a shooting percentage of 49.1% for this game. They finished the game shooting 41.4% from 3-point land by going 12 out of 29 and finished the contest at 16 out of 22 from the charity stripe (72.7%). Regarding how they cleaned up the glass, Cleveland State allowed IPFW to snag 23 in all (8 on the offensive glass).

Torrey Patton ended up having an impact for the Vikings for this game. He buried 6 out of 9 for the matchup giving him a field goal percentage of 66.7%, which had him finishing with 13 points. Patton snagged 5 boards in his 35 mins played and had 4 dimes in the game. One more player that ended up playing a role for Cleveland State was D'Moi Hodge. He left the arena with 46 points in his 32 minutes played by way of 15 out of 23 shooting in the matchup. Hodge ended the game having shot 65.2% from the field while also earning 3 dimes and 7 boards.

Who will win tonight's college basketball game against the spread?

Guy Bruhn's Pick: Take Cleveland State (-2)

Get $60 worth of FREE premium member picks. No Obligation. No Salesman. No Credit Card. Fast Sign up with Instant Access Click Here