Kent St Golden Flashes

The Golden Flashes won 24 of 33 games in 2025-26 and covered only 12 of 31 spreads; just 27 Division I teams covered less often. Backing Kent State to win was the play, laying the points was not.

Winning by less than the number

Kent State was favored 26 times, won 21, and covered 11. The home wins that fell short tell it: 77-73 over Northern Illinois laying 16.5, 83-81 over Central Michigan laying 11.5, 95-91 over Eastern Michigan laying 10.5 and 86-78 over Western Michigan laying 13.5. January was 6-3 straight up and 2-7 against the spread. Home and road were equally poor, 6 of 15 and 5 of 12.

November was the best month: 7-1, four covers in seven, the one loss 103-97 at home to Troy at -165. Outside the conference the worst result was 88-78 at Portland as -340 favorites in December.

The moneyline did pay

One unit on Kent State in each of its 26 priced favorite games made 3.02 units, and only 23 Division I teams made more backing their side as favorites. The whole-season moneyline finished 0.16 units up over 31 games. The costliest favorite loss was 87-85 at Central Michigan at -600.

Points both ways

The Golden Flashes scored 85.09 points a game, and only 17 Division I teams scored more; they allowed 79.64. Seventeen of 31 totals went over, 54.8%, and 92 Division I teams went over more often.

Akron

Akron was the one opponent Kent State could not handle: three meetings, three losses, no covers, 3.0 units lost. The last ended the run in the conference tournament semifinal, 75-68, and the season closed in the NIT, 79-58 at Illinois State.

As underdogs, five times all season, Kent State covered once, 78-71 at Bowling Green at +114; only four teams covered a smaller share as underdogs.

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