Akron Zips vs Kent State Golden Flashes Prediction, Odds and Picks for Today, 02/27/26

Friday night brings us MAC basketball, and we have a clash between two of the top teams in the conference as the Kent State Golden Flashes host the Akron Zips. Talk all you want about the undefeated Miami RedHawks, but for my money, Akron is the best team in this conference. We are heading for an ugly situation when Akron wins the conference tournament and Miami is suddenly on the bubble. The metrics sites agree too, as the Zips are the highest rated team in the conference. The smashed the Flashes by 17 in the first meeting, and they should do it again, even on the road. I will take Akron -4 all day long.

Kent State is not bad, but Akron really is the class of the MAC. Both teams play fast, and they shoot a lot of threes while also allowing opponents to shoot a lot of threes. As a result, there are a lot of long rebounds, which has helped both squads pull in a lot of offensive boards. Still, Akron does all these things better than Kent State. It might surprise you to learn that Akron is in the top 10 nationally in effective FG%, and certainly that is partly a product of the schedule, but it is a clear signal that this is the better team here. Give me the Zips.

Akron vs Kent State Prediction: Akron -4 (-110) available at the time of publishing; playable to -6.5.