Kent State Golden Flashes (Overall: 22-13, Conf: 10-8)
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Team Strengths:
Kent State’s rare tournament appearance (first in eighth years and sixth since joining in 1913) is mainly because of one man. This basketball team has “Jimmy Hall” written all over it. The senior provides everything on all areas, as he is averaging TEAM-LEADING stats of 18.9 points, 10.5 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 1.4 blocks on 52.1 percent shooting.
Through Hall’s tenacity on the boards, the Golden Flash are able to rank second in the nation in offensive and total rebounds.
Momentum and rhythm will also play part, since they finished the regular season and conference tournament winning nine of their last 10 games.
Team Weaknesses:
The good knack for getting second chance points is mostly getting cancelled out because they can’t box out on the other end. They are giving up 10.8 offensive rebounds per contest, which is one of the worst in the country.
Along with that is the poor team defense. They struggle rotating to the open man and it may be heavily proven in the first round against the high-octane attack of UCLA.
Lastly, they do a poor job of taking care of the ball. The 13 turnovers they commit every game have them placing at the 288th spot in the stat’s rankings. They also had 15 game where they had 13 or more errors.
Team Stats:
| CATEGORY | STAT | NCAA RANK |
| Points | 76.9 | 96th |
| Rebounds | 40.5 | 2nd |
| Assists | 12.5 | 160th |
| Field goal percentage | 42.8 | 258th |
| Three-point percentage | 31.8 | 319th |
| Free throw percentage | 71.9 | 117th |
| Turnovers | 13.0 | 288th |
Starting Lineup:
| POSTION | PLAYER | PPG |
| C | Jimmy Hall | 18.9 |
| F | Mitch Peterson | 5.3 |
| F | Deon Edwin | 13.0 |
| G | Jaylin Walker | 15.6 |
| G | Jalen Avery | 5.1 |
Writer’s Prediction:
Kent State won’t make it past UCLA.
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