After a great night in MAC Basketball including good wins over Mercer (Ohio) and Robert Morris (Buffalo), the conference will try to pull off upsets in two of the four games tonight.
Bowling Green | Oral Roberts | 4:00 p.m. | CSTV |
Eastern Michigan | Kentucky | 4:00 p.m. | ESPN3 |
Youngstown State | Kent State | 7:00 p.m. | MACDN |
Malone | Akron | 7:00 p.m. | MACDN |
Ball State | Utah | 10:00 p.m. | Pac-12 |
Bowling Green beat Presbyterian yesterday and now face Oral Roberts in the final of the Mayan Division at the Cancun Challenge. O-Rob is 3-3 with losses to the likes of Kansas State, Wisconsin and Saint Louis. They're basically a two-headed monster featuring Shawn Glover and Obi Emegano who average 19.4 and 19 points per game respectively. This will be a tough match-up for the Falcons but they have a good chance of getting it done.
Eastern Michigan tries to do what Cleveland State couldn't get done on Monday: knock off Big Blue Nation. We all know about Kentucky's freshmen and how good they are, but they looked shaky against the Vikings. It was more than likely just a "can't wait to get this over with" game, and the unfortunately the Eagles are the follow-up. Now the Wildcats know they can't sleep on anybody and they'll come out firing. If they would have caught Kentucky before they played CSU they might've taken it.
Perhaps the best game of the night comes from Kent as the 6-1 Penguins and the 6-1 Golden Flashes square off for the Battle of I-76. Both teams are red hot and YSU has only lost to a Massachusetts team that is now ranked. They feature Kendrick Perry, one of the best players in the nation and the Horizon League Preseason Player of the Year. Perry is averaging 17.3 points per game this season and almost had a triple-double against Eastern Kentucky coming up one rebound and three assists short. He had 26 points in an overtime loss to Kent State last year.
Akron breaks their seemingly two-week long stretch of not playing by taking the court against Division II Malone. I believe this was scheduled as an exhibition game, so I don't think it'll count in the win-loss column or the RPI.
Ball State heads out west to face the surprisingly 5-0 Utes of Utah. I say surprising because don't see this often from Utah:
You do have to consider the competition though: UC-Davis (KenPom 280), Grand Canyon (290), Lamar (338), Savannah State (313), and a non-Division I team. That's not exactly great competition, so the Cardinals have a better shot than most think.
Women's Basketball
Only one game is on the schedule for the women tonight, and that's the cross-town rivalry of Canisius and Buffalo. The Griffins are 3-2 with wins over Oakland, Detroit and Binghamton. The game is at Alumni Arena in Buffalo so you'll be able to stream it at 7:00 on the MAC Digital Network.