The Kent State Golden Flashes take on the Xavier Musketeers at 6:30 p.m. ET on Friday at the Cintas Center. The Musketeers got a 17-point performance from Paul Scruggs to lead them to a season-opening win against Niagara on Tuesday. Last year’s top scorer for Kent State, Danny Pippen, is gone, but Tervell Beck returns after he averaged a career-best 11.7 points and 4.8 rebounds in 2020-21.
The Musketeers are favored by eight points in the latest Xavier vs. Kent State odds from Caesars Sportsbook, and the over-under is set at 143.5. Before entering any Kent State vs. Xavier picks, you’ll want to see the college basketball predictions from the proven computer model at SportsLine.
The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every Division I college basketball game 10,000 times. Over the past five years, the proprietary computer model has generated an impressive profit of $2,200 for $100 players on its top-rated college basketball picks against the spread. Anyone who has followed it has seen huge returns.
Now, the model has set its sights on Xavier vs. Kent State. You can head to SportsLine to see its picks. Here are several college basketball odds for Xavier vs. Kent State:
- Xavier vs. Kent State spread: Xavier -8
- Xavier vs. Kent State over-under: 143.5 points
Featured Game | Xavier Musketeers vs. Kent State Golden Flashes
What to know about the Kent State Golden Flashes
Kent State finished with a 14-8 record last season, but was bounced in the first round of the MAC conference tourney. Besides Pippen, who averaged 19 points per game last season, the Golden Flashes are also without Mike Nuga this year. Nuga was the team’s second-leading scorer, with 17.8 points per game. He has transferred to UNLV for his final college season, leaving the offensive burden to fall primarily on Beck’s shoulders.
The Golden State flashes finished 2020-21 as one of the highest-pace teams in the nation, and worked to come away with extra possessions. Defensively, Kent State was a relatively tough team to hit 3-pointers against, and they held opponents to just 34 percent from beyond the arc.
What to know about the Xavier Musketeers
Xavier was 13-8 last season and finished similarly to Kent State, after it was eliminated in the first round of the Big East tourney by Butler. Scruggs is the team’s most productive offensive player from last season, and he’ll be asked to improve on the 14 points and four rebounds he averaged in 2020-21. The Musketeers were one of the nation’s elite programs last year when it came to setting up shots, and were seventh in assists per game (17.6).
The Musketeers were a bit off that mark on Tuesday against Niagara, when they only finished with 13. However, they held the Purple Eagles to six assists, which was a marked improvement over last year, when opponents averaged 14.7 per game. Xavier and Kent State last met in 2017, when the Musketeers won convincingly, 96-70.
How to make Xavier vs. Kent State picks
The model has simulated Xavier vs. Kent State 10,000 times and the results are in. We can tell you that the model is leaning over, and it’s also generated a point-spread pick that is hitting in over 60 percent of simulations. You can only see the pick at SportsLine.
Who wins Xavier vs. Kent State? And which side of the spread is a must-back? Visit SportsLine right now to see which side of the spread you need to jump on, all from the computer model that has crushed its college basketball picks, and find out.
