Mississippi State vs. Akron

A neutral site battle in Philadelphia for the Barstool Classic between the SEC and the MAC. Akron is a backcourt-oriented team with 6-7 junior Enrique Freeman the best frontcourt player. They topped South Dakota State in the opener, 81-80, failing to cover while getting outrebounded. Akron allowed South Dakota State to shoot 52.5%. Rebounding will be a problem in this game as Mississippi State has 6-11 senior Tolu Smith and 6-7 senior D.J. Jeffries up front, along with 6-11 senior Will McNair Jr. off the bench. They opened the season with a 63-44 rout of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi allowing 32% shooting while winning the rebounding battle 42-33. And college basketball neutral court teams like Akron that won 60% to 80% of their games in the previous season coming off a home victory by 3 points or less are 6-25 ATS versus winning teams. Play Mississippi State.