Buffalo Bulls vs Ball State Cardinals Prediction, 2/2/2021 College Basketball Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Buffalo Bulls vs Ball State Cardinals

Date: Tuesday, February 2, 2021

Location: Worthen Arena in Muncie, IN

TV: ESPN+

Odds/Point Spread: Buffalo (-2)

Worthen Arena is the venue where and the Ball State Cardinals (6-8) will play the Buffalo Bulls (6-6) on Tuesday. Ball State opens this matchup as 2-point dogs. The total is set at 152.5.

Buffalo enters this game with a record of 6-6 so far this year. They are averaging 81.8 pts per contest (25th in the nation) while hitting 45.8% from the field. The Bulls are connecting on 33.3% on shots from distance (89 of 267) and 65.2% from the charity stripe. As a team, Buffalo is collecting 42.5 boards per game and has racked up 190 assists for the year, which is 182nd in the nation in terms of passing the rock. They turn it over 14.0 times per contest and as a team are committing 20.4 fouls per game. On the defensive end, the Bulls are forcing their opponents into 13.4 turnovers every game while drawing 18.3 fouls. They currently rank 71st in D-1 in giving up assists to their opponents with 147 surrendered on the season. The Bulls defensively are giving up and opponent field goal percentage of 42.0% (319 of 759) and they concede 37.7 rebounds per game as a basketball team. They are giving up 27.5% on three-point shots and they rank 288th in Division 1 in PPG allowed (76.1).

The Buffalo Bulls played the Ohio Bobcats and ended up losing by a score of 76-75 in their last game. Buffalo finished the game having earned a 42.9% FG percentage (27 of 63) and converted 8 of their 26 three-point attempts. At the free throw line, the Bulls buried 13 of their 20 shots for a rate of 65.0%. Pertaining to grabbing boards, they collected 31 with 11 of them being offensive. They also dished out 14 assists in this matchup while getting 11 steals and 3 blocked shots. In reference to the defense, Buffalo allowed the other team to go 42.9% from the field on 27 out of 63 shooting. Ohio distributed 14 assists and had 5 steals in the game. In addition, the Bobcats snagged 32 rebounds (6 offensive, 26 defensive) and got 3 blocked shots. Ohio finished the game shooting 66.7% when shooting free throws by knocking down 8 of their 12 shots. They buried 6 of 20 shots from distance.

Jayvon Graves is a guy who came through for the matchup. He ended up walking away with 18 points on 7 out of 11 shooting. He played 38 mins and totaled 3 boards. Graves ended up going 63.6% from the field and recorded 2 assists. One more player that was a determining factor in this matchup for the Bulls was Jeenathan Williams. He grabbed 5 rebounds and earned 3 assists. He finished shooting 42.9% from the field for the matchup via 6-of-14 (14 points). Overall, Williams played 35 min.

Ball State has a record of 6-8 so far this year. Ball State has tallied 993 pts for the season (70.9 per contest) and they pull down 35.0 rebounds per game. The Cardinals commit 19.0 fouls per contest while shooting 71.0% from the free throw line. On the offensive side of the court, the Cardinals are shooting 43.4% from the field, which is 236th in college hoops. They are earning an assist 12.6 times per game (222nd in the nation) and they turn it over 13.9 times per game. The Cardinals on the defensive side of the court are 242nd in college basketball in points allowed per game with 72.9. The Ball State defense gives up 30.5% on three-point shots (93 of 305) and their opposition makes 67.3% of their shots from the free throw line. They relinquish 12.6 assists and 38.1 boards per game, which is 149th and 297th in the country. They are forcing 13.4 turnovers on a nightly basis and allow teams to shoot 43.3% from the floor (196th in college basketball).

In their last game, the Ball State Cardinals went home defeated by a final of 74-42 when they played the Akron Zips. The Cardinals corralled 24 defensive rebounds and 2 offensive rebounds for a total of 26 for the contest. They also blocked 3 tries while recording 4 steals in this game. The Zips earned 13 fouls in the game which got the Cardinals to the free throw line for a total of 7 tries. They were able to make 4 of those for a clip of 57.1%. In reference to shots from beyond the arc, Ball State made 4 out of 22 tries (18.2%). When the final whistle blew, the Cardinals finished 17 for 50 from the field which had them sitting at 34.0%. The Cardinals allowed the Zips to knock down 28 of their 57 attempts from the field which left them shooting 49.1% for this contest. They finished 32.0% from 3-point land by hitting 8 out of 25 and ended up going 10 of 19 at the free throw line (52.6%). In reference to team rebounding, Ball State permitted Akron to collect 37 in total (8 on the offensive side).

Ishmael El-Amin was important for the Cardinals in the matchup. He converted 6 out of 15 for the contest for a rate of 40.0%, which earned him 13 points. El-Amin pulled down 3 boards in his 32 minutes and tallied 3 assists in this game. An additional guy that was important for Ball State was Brachen Hazen. He accumulated 8 points in his 23 minutes played by way of 3 out of 8 from the floor in the matchup. Hazen finished going 37.5% from the floor while totaling 2 dimes and 4 total rebounds.

So what is Tonights Parlay prediction?

Parlay's Pundit's Pick: Take Ball State (+2) and over 152.5 points

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