The Kennesaw State Owls and the Jacksonville State Gamecocks meet in college basketball action from the Pete Mathews Coliseum on Thursday night.
The Kennesaw State Owls booked their spot in the quarterfinals after an 82-73 win over Eastern Kentucky in the first round. Chris Youngblood leads the Owls in scoring with 13.7 PPG along with 5.3 RPG while Terrell Burden has 11.8 PPG with Burden logging a team-high 4.8 APG as well this season. Spencer Rodgers has 10.6 PPG with 4.1 RPG to make up the group of double-digit scorers for Kennesaw State so far this season. Demond Robinson has 9.4 PPG with 4.9 RPG and Brandon Stroud has a team-high 5.7 RPG to lead the Owls in rebounding. As a team, Kennesaw State is averaging 74.8 PPG on 46.4% shooting from the field, 35.9% from three and 66.3% from the foul line while allowing 70.9 PPG on 44.1% shooting from the field and 36.3% from three this season.
The Jacksonville State Gamecocks come into the conference tournament as the top seed in the West after finishing 20-9 overall including 13-3 in conference play. Darian Adams leads the Gamecocks in scoring with 15.8 PPG and 3.8 APG while Demaree King has 11 PPG and Jalen Gibbs has 11.1 PPG with 3.9 RPG to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for Jacksonville State up to this point in the year. Brandon Huffman leads the Gamecocks on the glass with 5.9 RPG to go along with 9 PPG and Kayne Henry has 9.3 PPG and 5.6 RPG as well this season. As a team, Jacksonville State is averaging 74.6 PPG on 47.3% shooting from the field, 39.9% from three and 67.3% from the foul line while allowing 67.2 PPG on 40.9% shooting from the field and 32.7% from three this season.
Kennesaw State is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 road games and 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games following a win while the over is 4-0 in their last 4 games following an ATS win. Jacksonville State is 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games overall and 19-7 ATS in their last 26 games following a win while the under is 5-2 in their last 7 games overall.
I get the case to be made for Jacksonville State laying points here as the higher-seed, but the Owls have this inane ability to play up to the level of their competition and we saw that a lot down the stretch as they went toe to toe with Liberty on the road as well as Jacksonville, two of the better home teams in the ASUN. I think this is going to be a game that’s a lot closer than the line would indicate, so give me the Owls and the points here.