Kent State vs UC Irvine Prediction College Basketball Picks 11/29/24

The UC-Irvine Anteaters and the Kent State Golden Flashes meet Friday in college basketball action from the VisitLethbridge.com Arena. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s a UC-Irvine vs. Kent State Prediction.

UC-Irvine Recap

The UC-Irvine will look to build on a 76-59 win over Kennesaw State last time out to improve to 6-0 on the year. UC Irvine will face Towson, CSU Bakersfield, Oregon State, and Belmont following this one.

Anteaters Looking To Stay Undefeated

Bent Leuchten leads the Anteaters in scoring and rebounding with 15.8 PPG along with 9.7 RPG while Justin Hohn has 11.8 PPG with 4.3 RPG and a team-high 1.8 SPG. Andre Henry also has 10 PPG and Devin Tillis has 14.5 PPG with 8 RPG to cap off the group of double-digit scorers for UC-Irvine so far this season. As a team, UC-Irvine is averaging 79.5 PPG on 48.2% shooting from the field, 36.6% from three, and 80.4% from the foul line this season.

Why the UC Irvine Anteaters will win

• UC Irvine has won each of its last six games.

Kent State Recap

The Kent State Golden Flashes will be out to add on to a 65-54 win over Towson last time out.

Golden Flashes Win Third Straight

VonCameron Davis leads the Golden Flashes in scoring with 16.3 PPG along with 3 RPG while Morgan Safford has 11 PPG with 5.2 RPG as the only other double-digit scorer for Kent State up to this point in the year. Jalen Sullinger has 9.5 PPG with 2.5 APG while Cli’Ron Hornbeak has 8 PPG with a team-high 7.2 RPG to lead the Golden Flashes on the glass. Cian Medley also has a team-high 3.2 APG to lead the Golden Flashes on the glass so far this season.

Why the Kent State Golden Flashes will win

• Kent State has won seven of its last eight games against non-AP-ranked opponents.

UC-Irvine Vs. Kent State Prediction

I’m on UC-Irvine here. I’ll give Kent State their flowers for how they’ve competed so far this year, but UC-Irvine has been strong out of the gate and has consistently been one of the best mid-majors in the country time in and time out. I think the Golden Flashes will hang around early, but look for UC-Irvine to pull away in the second half on the way to the win and cover.

Chris Ruffolo's Pick: UC-Irvine -6.5