Kent State Golden Flashes vs St. Mary's Gaels Prediction, 12/29/2023 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Kent State Golden Flashes vs St. Mary's Gaels

Date: Friday, December 29, 2023

Location: University Credit Union Pavilion in Moraga, CA

TV: ESPN+

The Kent State Golden Flashes (7-4) are on their way to University Credit Union Pavilion on Friday where they will try to defeat the St. Mary's Gaels (8-6).

The Kent State Golden Flashes stepped onto the hardwood against Oregon and took a loss by a final of 84-70 in their last contest. When talking about fouls, the Golden Flashes ended up walking away with 20 and Oregon recorded 14 fouls. They also converted 7 of 29 attempts from long range. Oregon ended up shooting 77.8% at the charity stripe by knocking down 21 of 27 tries. Furthermore, Oregon collected 34 rebounds (8 offensive, 26 defensive), but wasn't able to record a rejection. Oregon totaled 16 dimes and had 8 steals in the game. In the matter of the defense, Kent State allowed the other team to shoot 46.7% from the field on 28 out of 60 shooting. They also recorded 12 dimes as well as forcing the opposition into 4 turnovers, but didn't notch a steal. In terms of pulling down boards, they compiled 29 with 5 of them being on the offensive end. From the charity stripe, the Golden Flashes buried 15 of their 18 shots for a percentage of 83.3%. Kent State walked away from the contest with a 39.3% field goal percentage (22 of 56) and buried 11 of 24 three-point shots.

Tyem Freeman is a guy who came through for this contest. He finished the game at 71.4% from the field and earned 2 assists. He played for 31 mins played and totaled 7 rebounds. He scored 16 points on 5 out of 7 shooting.

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Kent State will enter this game with a record of 7-4 so far this season. They average 83.0 pts per contest (40th in the nation) on 46.3% from the floor. The Golden Flashes are shooting 35.3% on shots from downtown (90 of 255) and 77.1% from the free throw line. As a team, Kent State is collecting 37.4 boards per game and is sitting with 154 assists on the campaign, which ranks 243rd in the nation in terms of passing. They lose possession by turning the ball over 13.7 times per game and as a basketball team they are committing 19.0 personal fouls every game.

Defensively, the Golden Flashes are forcing 15.6 turnovers per contest while drawing 20.1 fouls. They are 187th in college basketball in giving up assists to the opposition with 153 conceded on the campaign. The Golden Flashes defensively are giving up a field goal percentage of 43.5% (280 of 643) and they surrender 33.2 boards per game as a team. They are relinquishing 34.5% on shots from beyond the perimeter and they are ranked 248th in college hoops in PPG allowed (73.5).

When they last played, the St. Mary's Gaels went home defeated by a final of 69-64 when they played Missouri State. With respect to cleaning the glass, St. Mary's permitted Missouri State to collect 23 in total (6 offensive). They shot 43.8% from downtown by going 7 of 16 and ended up shooting 14 of 18 from the free throw line (77.8%). The Gaels allowed Missouri State to knock down 24 out of their 54 attempts from the field which gave them a rate of 44.4% in this contest. When the final whistle blew, the Gaels shot 23 for 53 from the floor which gave them a rate of 43.4%. Regarding three-point shots, St. Mary's knocked down 7 of their 20 tries (35.0%). They were able to make 11 of the free throw tries for a percentage of 84.6%. Missouri State was called for 17 personal fouls in the matchup which got the Gaels to the charity stripe for a total of 13 tries. They also coughed up the ball 10 times, while getting 5 steals for this contest. The Gaels snagged 23 defensive rebounds and 8 offensive rebounds for a total of 31 in this matchup.

Augustas Marciulionis ended up being important for the Gaels in this contest. He earned 17 points in his 36 mins on the hardwood and tallied 5 assists in this contest. He converted 5 out of 12 in the game giving him a field goal percentage of 41.7%, and had 3 rebounds.

St. Mary's has a record of 8-6 for the campaign. The Gaels commit 17.9 personal fouls per contest and they go 65.0% from the charity stripe. They are getting an assist 14.7 times per game (112th in the country) and they cough up possession 11.7 times per contest. St. Mary's has 989 points so far this year (70.6 per game) and they pull in 42.5 boards per game. As an offense, the Gaels are shooting 43.4% from the field, which is 254th in D-1.

The Gaels defensively are ranked 8th in college hoops in points given up per game with 59.4. They are able to force 11.7 turnovers per game and have let teams shoot 38.3% from the floor (24th in college basketball). The St. Mary's defense concedes 31.1% from downtown (68 of 219) and their opponents are making 68.8% of their shots from the charity stripe. They give up 9.6 dimes and 29.8 rebounds every game, which ranks them 16th and 10th in those defensive categories.

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

Tony Sink's Pick: Take Kent State

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