Kent State Golden Flashes (24-8, 15-4 MAC) vs. Akron Zips (27-5, 18-1 MAC)
Cleveland; Friday, 7:30 p.m. EDT
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Zips -6.5; over/under is 163.5
BOTTOM LINE: Akron squares off against Kent State in the MAC Tournament.
The Zips have gone 18-1 against MAC teams, with a 9-4 record in non-conference play. Akron has a 24-3 record in games decided by 10 or more points.
The Golden Flashes’ record in MAC games is 15-4. Kent State is the MAC leader with 35.9 rebounds per game led by Delrecco Gillespie averaging 11.0.
Akron averages 89.1 points, 9.3 more per game than the 79.8 Kent State allows. Kent State has shot at a 45.7% rate from the field this season, 3.4 percentage points higher than the 42.3% shooting opponents of Akron have averaged.
The teams meet for the third time this season. Akron won 92-70 in the last matchup on Feb. 28. Shammah Scott led Akron with 23 points, and Morgan Safford led Kent State with 15 points.
TOP PERFORMERS: Tavari Johnson is scoring 20.3 points per game with 3.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists for the Zips. Amani Lyles is averaging 13.7 points and 8.5 rebounds over the last 10 games.
Gillespie is averaging 18.3 points and 11 rebounds for the Golden Flashes. Safford is averaging 14.4 points over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Zips: 9-1, averaging 83.7 points, 35.0 rebounds, 16.4 assists, 7.6 steals and 2.3 blocks per game while shooting 48.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 71.7 points per game.
Golden Flashes: 8-2, averaging 81.5 points, 32.9 rebounds, 14.9 assists, 7.5 steals and 3.0 blocks per game while shooting 44.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 77.0 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
