Akron Zips vs Western Michigan Broncos Prediction, 1/21/2023 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Akron Zips vs Western Michigan Broncos

Date: Saturday, January 21, 2023

Location: University Arena (MI) in Kalamazoo, MI

TV: fuboTV

The Western Michigan Broncos (6-12) will take on the Akron Zips (12-6) at University Arena (MI) on Saturday.

The Akron Zips faced Central Michigan and notched a win by a score of 69-51 in their last game. In the matter of personal fouls, the Zips left the arena with 19 while Central Michigan had 18 personal fouls. They also made 8 out of their 20 shots from 3-point range. Central Michigan finished shooting 68.8% at the charity stripe by making 11 of 16 tries. In addition, Central Michigan snagged 30 rebounds (6 offensive, 24 defensive), but wrapped up the game with no rejections. Central Michigan earned 9 assists and had 3 steals for the contest. Regarding defense, Akron allowed their opponent to shoot 34.0% from the floor on 16 of 47 shooting. They also dished out 13 assists for the contest while forcing the other team into 15 turnovers and earning 7 steals. With regard to getting rebounds, they earned 31 with 6 of them being of the offensive variety. At the charity stripe, the Zips knocked down 15 of their 22 attempts for a rate of 68.2%. Akron wrapped up the contest with a 41.8% field goal percentage (23 out of 55) and buried 8 out of their 26 three-point attempts.

Xavier Castaneda is a player who was a major factor for this contest. He shot 42.9% from the field and totaled 5 dimes. He played 32 mins played and also collected 4 boards. He ended up scoring 13 points on 3 out of 7 shooting.

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Akron will enter this contest with a mark of 12-6 for the season. They are averaging 71.6 points per game (182nd in Division 1) while hitting 42.4% from the field. The Zips are connecting on 33.5% on shots from downtown (153 of 457) and 71.4% from the charity stripe. As a team, Akron is pulling in 37.6 boards per game and is sitting with 236 assists this year, which ranks 235th in D-1 in terms of passing. They lose possession by turning the ball over 11.7 times per contest and as a unit they are committing 15.4 personal fouls every game.

Defensively, the Zips are able to force 13.3 turnovers per game and they draw 18.2 fouls. They currently rank 63rd in college basketball in giving up assists with 201 conceded on the season. The Zips defense is allowing a FG percentage of 41.0% (416 of 1,015) and they surrender 32.9 rebounds per game as a basketball team. They are conceding 33.7% on shots from downtown while they are 29th in college hoops in points per game allowed (62.4).

The last time they took the court, the Western Michigan Broncos took a defeat with a final score of 71-70 against Ball State. When talking about rebounding, Western Michigan permitted Ball State to collect 34 in total (10 offensive). They went 26.7% from 3-point land by shooting 4 out of 15 and finished the contest at 13 of 22 from the free throw line (59.1%). The Broncos permitted Ball State to bury 27 of their 59 tries from the floor which left them with a rate of 45.8% for this game. Overall, the Broncos finished shooting 22 out of 57 from the field which gave them a shooting percentage of 38.6%. When talking about shots from beyond the arc, Western Michigan converted 9 of 18 attempts (50.0%). They were able to make 17 of the free throw tries for a percentage of 100.0%. Ball State committed 18 fouls for this contest which got the Broncos to the charity stripe for 17 attempts. They coughed up the ball 14 times, while recording 3 steals for this game. The Broncos corralled 26 defensive boards and 8 offensive rebounds for a total of 34 for this game.

Lamar Norman ended up being a factor for the Broncos for the contest. He converted 9 out of 20 in this matchup for a field goal rate of 45.0%, and accumulated 6 rebounds. He tallied 31 points in his 40 minutes on the court and had 4 dimes for the game.

Western Michigan has a win-loss record of 6-12 this year. The Broncos are committing 16.2 personal fouls per contest while shooting 74.2% from the charity stripe. They are earning an assist 13.2 times per game (192nd in college basketball) and they are turning it over 13.1 times per game. Western Michigan has 1,298 pts for the season (72.1 per game) and they average 38.0 boards per contest. As an offensive team, the Broncos are shooting 44.7% from the field, which ranks 180th in the country.

The Broncos on the defensive side of the court are 278th in college hoops in PPG allowed with 72.8. They have forced 10.4 TO's per game and allow teams to shoot 46.4% from the field (331st in D-1). The Western Michigan defense gives up 37.2% on 3-point shots (150 of 403) and their opponents are connecting on 68.7% of their free throw attempts. They have relinquished 14.9 dimes and 30.1 total rebounds per game, which has them ranked 326th and 11th in Division 1.

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

Guy Bruhn's Pick: Take Western Michigan

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