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The Eastern Michigan Eagles take on the Ball State Cardinals. Check out our college basketball odds series for our Eastern Michigan Ball State prediction and pick. Find out how to watch Eastern Michigan Ball State.
The college basketball season moves into February with a number of intriguing conference races taking shape. One of them is in the Mid-American Conference, where Kent State and Akron are both 8-1 and Toledo is 7-2. Right behind those three teams is Ball State at 6-3. The fight for a conference championship is obviously a foremost goal for the teams in the top tier of any conference race at this point in the season, with one month left in conference play before the league tournaments arrive in early March. However, another priority for teams is to get first-round byes and favorable seedings for conference tournaments. The last thing teams want to do is have to play a first-round game at a conference tournament instead of going directly into the quarterfinals and earning a day off. Winning three games instead of four, or two games instead of three, matters a lot in conference tournaments. Being in the top four or the top two leads to these improved March odds. That's what Ball State is aiming for when it hosts Eastern Michigan.
Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the Eastern Michigan-Ball State College Basketball odds.
College Basketball Odds: Eastern Michigan-Ball State Odds
Eastern Michigan Eagles: +10.5 (-110)
Ball State Cardinals: -10.5 (-110)
Over: 151.5 (-114)
Under: 151.5 (-106)
How To Watch Eastern Michigan vs. Ball State
TV: CBS Sports Network
Stream: CBSSports.com
Time: 6:30 p.m. ET, 3:30 p.m. PT
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*Watch Eastern Michigan-Ball State LIVE with fuboTV (Click for free trial)*
Why Eastern Michigan Could Cover the Spread
The Ball State Cardinals are not playing particularly impressive basketball right now. They have split their last four games, and they got crushed by a not-very-good Buffalo team (10-12 overall, 4-5 in the MAC) a week and a half ago by 26 points. Ball State lost 91-65 and basically failed to show up. Earlier in January, before that atrocious performance against Buffalo, Ball State barely beat a bad Western Michigan team (which is 2-7 in the MAC through nine conference games) by one point at home. Nothing Ball State is doing right now is convincing anyone that the Cardinals belong with Kent State, Akron and Toledo at the top of the MAC. Ball State seems to be the best team of the second tier more than a team which belongs in the top echelon of the conference. Eastern Michigan is getting a lot of points in this spread. The Eagles can certainly keep this game within 10 points for the final margin.
Why Ball State Could Cover the Spread
The Eastern Michigan Eagles just aren't a very good team. EMU has lost three of its last five and is 3-6 through nine MAC games this season. The Eagles lost to a 9-13 Northern Illinois team by 21 points, 88-67. Ball State is playing at home, where it beat current MAC co-leader Akron earlier this season. Ball State has beaten Toledo and Akron — two of the three teams ahead of the Cardinals in the MAC standings — and has shown it can compete well against the top of the conference. Beating EMU at home is a far easier task in comparison.
Final Eastern Michigan-Ball State Prediction & Pick
Ball State is clearly a better team than Eastern Michigan and is playing at home on a night when it urgently needs a victory. Take Ball State.
Final Eastern Michigan-Ball State Prediction & Pick: Ball State -10.5
