Kent State is coming into this game with a 24-11 record this season and they were 11-7 in their conference. They have been playing very well in their recent games as they have won their last 2 straight as well as 5 of their last 6 games. They have been great in this tournament as they beat St Bonaventure 75-56 in the 1st round and beat Stanford 77-75 in the last round, both of those wins coming on the road as well. They have not been bad on the road recently either, winning their last 3 straight as well as 5 of their last 7 games on the road. They have also been much better on the road against non-conference opponents as they are 4-2 this season, their only 2 road losses to non-conference opponents being against Auburn and Alabama. They are going up against a Loyola IL team that is 24-11 this season and they were 12-6 in their conference. They have been on fire recently as they have won 5 of their last 6 as well as 10 of their last 12 games, and they have been great in this tournament. They beat San Jose State in the 1st round 73-70 and beat San Francisco in the last round 77-76, both of those wins coming on the road, but they did struggle in both games with their win over San Francisco being the only quality win of those 2. Now they get to play their 1st home game of this tournament and they have been playing very well there as they have won their last 8 straight games at home, but half of those wins were also much closer games by 4 points or less. Kent State has an advantage at the rim here as the better rebounding team this season and they have outrebounded both of their opponents in this tournament while Loyola IL was outrebounded in their last game. Kent State will cover the spread in this game.