Northern Illinois Huskies vs Ball State Cardinals Prediction, 1/27/2024 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Northern Illinois Huskies vs Ball State Cardinals

Date: Saturday, January 27, 2024

Location: Worthen Arena in Muncie, IN

TV: ESPN+

Worthen Arena is where the Ball State Cardinals (10-9) will compete against the Northern Illinois Huskies (6-12) on Saturday.

The Northern Illinois Huskies stepped onto the hardwood against Toledo and took a loss by a score of 89-73 in their last game. When it comes to personal fouls, the Huskies ended up finishing with 22 while Toledo recorded 17 personal fouls. They also converted 8 of 18 attempts from long range. Toledo finished the game at 70.0% at the charity stripe by making 21 of 30 tries. Moreover, Toledo snagged 33 rebounds (14 offensive, 19 defensive), but wasn't able to record a block. Toledo earned 12 assists and had 9 steals for the contest. Pertaining to the defense, Northern Illinois allowed the other team to shoot 48.4% from the floor on 30 out of 62 shooting. They also recorded 8 dimes in the matchup in addition to creating 8 turnovers and having 3 steals. With regard to hauling in boards, they collected 30 with 10 of them being of the offensive sort. At the free throw line, the Huskies knocked down 9 of 13 attempts for a percentage of 69.2%. Northern Illinois finished having earned a 48.3% FG percentage (29 of 60) and made 6 of 25 three-point shots.

David Coit is one player who came through for this contest. He finished the game shooting 40.0% from the field and also recorded 3 dimes. He was on the court for 38 minutes played and totaled 6 rebounds. He ended up with 23 points on 8 of 20 shooting.

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Northern Illinois steps onto the court with a record of 6-12 for the season. They currently have an average of 77.1 pts per game (103rd in college basketball) while hitting 46.4% from the field. The Huskies are hitting 35.4% on 3-pointers (145 of 410) and 66.5% from the free throw line. As a unit, Northern Illinois is snagging 35.3 boards per game and has accounted for 199 dimes so far this season, which is 338th in Division 1 in terms of passing. They lose possession by turning the ball over 13.0 times per contest and as a group they commit 17.8 personal fouls every game.

On defense, the Huskies are forcing their opponents into 11.2 turnovers per game while drawing 19.2 personal fouls. They are giving up 36.0% on 3-point shots while they are 348th in college hoops in opponents points per game (80.1). The Huskies are giving up a shooting percentage of 45.4% (521 of 1,148) and they surrender 37.8 boards per game as a unit. They are ranked 225th in college basketball in allowing assists to their opponents with 256 conceded so far this year.

The last time they took the court, the Ball State Cardinals walked away with a victory by a final of 87-59 when they played Buffalo. When discussing rebounding, Ball State allowed Buffalo to pull down 23 in total (3 on the offensive side). They wrapped up this game 30.3% from 3-point land by going 10 out of 33 and finished the contest at 9 out of 12 at the charity stripe (75.0%). The Cardinals permitted Buffalo to make 20 of their 61 attempts from the floor which left them with a rate of 32.8% in this contest. When all was said and done, the Cardinals ended up going 31 for 61 from the field which gave them a percentage of 50.8%. With respect to shooting from 3-point land, Ball State converted 10 out of 23 tries (43.5%). They were able to make 15 of them for a rate of 78.9%. Buffalo earned 18 fouls in this contest which took the Cardinals to the charity stripe for 19 shots. They also gave up possession of the ball 12 times, while getting 10 steals in this game. The Cardinals were able to pull down 32 defensive rebounds and 11 offensive rebounds for a total of 43 for the game.

Basheer Jihad ended up being a factor for the Cardinals for this contest. He scored 20 points in his 31 mins of playing time and had 4 assists in this game. He made 6 of 10 in the game giving him a field goal percentage of 60.0%, and earned 9 rebounds.

Ball State has a record of 10-9 on the year. The Cardinals are committing 15.0 fouls per contest and they shoot 76.1% from the charity stripe. They are assisting teammates 12.4 times per contest (260th in the country) and they turn it over 12.3 times per contest. Ball State has 1,425 points so far this year (75.0 per game) and they collect 35.1 boards per contest. As an offense, the Cardinals are shooting 46.0% from the field, which has them ranked 117th in the nation.

The Cardinals defensively are ranked 133rd in college basketball in points given up per game with 70.0. They are able to force 11.8 TO's every game and allow teams to shoot 44.6% from the field (259th in college basketball). The Ball State defense gives up 33.9% from downtown (131 of 386) and opponents are knocking down 71.8% of their free throw attempts. They have surrendered 12.6 dimes and 31.9 total rebounds per game, which has them ranked 165th and 41st in college hoops.

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

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take Northern Illinois

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