Ball State vs. Central Michigan prediction: Why Central Michigan is favored to win men's college basketball matchup [1/20/2026]

Central Michigan will face Ball State, in what is expected to be a close men's college basketball game, at McGuirk Arena on Tuesday, starting at 7:00 PM ET.

Based on updated simulations, Dimers' advanced college basketball model gives Central Michigan a slight edge with a 54% win probability over Ball State.

This article offers a closer look at Tuesday's Ball State vs. Central Michigan matchup, including an expanded look at the predicted score, best bets and picks.

Ball State vs. Central Michigan prediction: Who will win and cover?

Using trusted machine learning and statistical analysis, we have simulated the result of Tuesday's NCAA basketball matchup between Ball State and Central Michigan 10,000 times as part of our men's college basketball predictions coverage.

Our famous predictive model gives Central Michigan a 54% chance of defeating Ball State. Our predicted final score has Central Michigan winning 72-71.

According to our model, Ball State (+1.5) has a 55% chance of covering the spread, while the over/under total of 142.5 points has a 52% chance of going over.

Ball State vs. Central Michigan odds

We have sourced the best men's college basketball odds in America for this game, which are listed here:

All odds are correct at the time of publication and are subject to change.

Ball State vs. Central Michigan picks and best bet

After matching our predictions against the best available odds, we can reveal our picks for each of the major markets. Plus, find our best bet for the game below: