The ball rack is ready for play before Thursday's slate at the Boardwalk Basketball Classic Rim 6197

On Thursday night, the McBrayer Arena will host college basketball action between the Eastern Kentucky Colonels and Kennesaw State Owls.

The Kennesaw State Owls will be looking to rebound from last year’s 65-50 loss against Liberty. Chris Youngblood is the Owls’ leader in rebounding and scoring with 13.1 PPG, 5.6 RPG, while Terrell Burden has 12.4PPG. Burden also logs a team-high of 4.4 APG this season. Spencer Rodgers is the only Kennesaw State player with double-digit scoring this season, with 10 PPG and 4.2 RPG. Kennesaw State has an average of 74.2 PPG, with 46.1% shooting from behind the goal line, 35.1% shooting from three, and 67.6% shooting from the foul line. They also allow 68.8 points per game on 43.9% shooting and 36% shooting from three this season.

The Eastern Kentucky Colonels will attempt to bounce back from last year’s 113-95 defeat at the hands Stetson. Devontae Blnton is the Colonels’ leader in rebounding, scoring and assists, with 11.1 PPG (6.3 RPG) and 3.2 APG respectively. Jannson Williams is second with 10.9 PPG with 5.9 RPG. Jomaru Brown and Braxton Beverly have each 10+ PPG, while Cooper Robb has 3.7 APG. Beverly is the only player to reach double-digits in EKU’s scoring this season. Michael Moreno has 9.9 PPG and 5.2 RPG for this season. Eastern Kentucky has a team average of 81 PPG, with 42.7% shooting from behind the goal, 35.4% shooting from three, and 69.2% shooting from the foul line. They also allow 73.2 PPG, on 45.4% shooting and 32% shooting from three this season.

Kennesaw State has a 1-4 record against the spread in its last five games after a loss, and 1-5 ATS their last six games. The under is 7-1 in their 8 last games. Eastern Kentucky has a 1-7 record overall, 1-5 ATS in the last 6 games after an ATS loss and 6-1 in the last 7 games.

Although I can see the argument for either side, I prefer to go with the under here. These teams have been playing low scoring games a lot lately. Eastern Kentucky’s participated in 14 unders in 18 lined matches this season.