The Kent State Golden Flashes (0-0) and the Cleveland State Vikings (0-1) will meet in a Mid-American Conference (MAC) and Horizon League collision at the Northeast Ohio Coaches vs. Cancer Doubleheader. The contest will come live from Cleveland, Ohio and will be available for streaming on ESPN+. The Golden Flashes and Vikings last met in 2017 on Kent State’s court where the Vikings would fall to the Golden Flashes by 10 points, affording Kent State its third consecutive cover in meetings between the two teams. The Golden Flashes have also won their last three overall against the Vikings.
Kent State Golden Flashes at Cleveland State Vikings Overview
Kent State Golden Flashes
In the 2017-2018 season, the Golden Flashes had made it as far as the MAC Tournament Semifinals. Then, the eventual champion of the conference the Buffalo Bulls would send the Golden Flashes packing with a 61-78 loss culminating in Kent State finishing with a 17-17 record on the year. Kent State would stay home from any invitational competition after qualifying the year before for the 2017 Men’s Tournament by way of a remarkable run that saw Kent State lift the MAC hardware.
Cleveland State Vikings
The Vikings come in off an 83-63 loss to Davidson on Tuesday to kick off the 2018-19 college hoops season. Cleveland State closed as an 18.5-point underdog at the close. In the 2017-18 season, the Vikings went 12-23 overall with a 6-12 record within the Horizon League.
Reasons To Back Cleveland State
This contest will be played on Cleveland State’s home court, and that is a massive edge for the Vikings given the fact that this is one of the more high-profile contests they will play this season. Early season tournaments and invitational games such as these are a notable venue where mid-major outfits like C-State pull upsets because it is an opportunity for the program to make a name for itself. We have to like Cleveland State here alone by the motivational factor that comes with this narrative.
Reasons To Avoid Kent State
A huge contributor to Kent State’s troubles in 2017 was the fact they were not shooting the three as well as they usually do. The Golden Flashes hit under 33% of their three-point attempts from the field. Be that as it may, they are going against a Cleveland State defense that held Davidson (a team that hit 39% of their treys in 2017-18) to 36% from beyond the arc and we haven’t even seen Kent State take the court yet.
