Kent State comes home to the M.A.C. Center to play Eastern Michigan at 1 p.m. Saturday.
The Flashes are 1-4 in the Mid-American Conference and 9-5 overall. All five of their league games have been decided by fewer than 10 points. KSU lost at Ohio 70-64 on Wednesday after leading going into the fourth quarter.
Eastern Michigan is 1-2 in the conference and 4-6 overall. The Eagles have had three MAC games postponed by COVID-19.
The game will be streamed on ESPN3 and on the Golden Flashes Radio Network. Live statistics are available on the KSU website.
EMU’s Areanna Combs, a 5-10 redshirt senior wing, ranks in the top 15 in the MAC in six categories: scoring (10th at 17.2), shooting percentage (12th at 41.1%), foul shooting (11th at 78.5%), assists (16th at 3.9) and steals (fourth at 2.7).
Eastern’s Ce’Nara Skanes, a 6-foot redshirt sophomore, ranks first in the MAC in shooting percentage (54.3%) and seventh in rebounding (8.5 per game). Daniel Rainey, a 5-10 senior guard, is fourth in the MAC in 3-point baskets per game (3.2) and fifth in 3-point shooting percentage (45.1%).
Kent State’s top scorers are 5-11 junior guard Katie Shumate, who averages 13.0 points a game, and 5-4 sophomore guard Casey Santoro, who averages 12.8). Senior forward Lindsey Thall averages 13.1, but she has missed four straight games as she recovers from COVID. It’s unclear whether she’ll be able to play Saturday.
The game is a “We Back Pat” contest in honor of legendary Tennessee coach Pat Summit, whose career and life were cut short by Alzheimer’s disease. It’s of special meaning to the Flashes and coach Todd Starkey, whose mother died this week after suffering from Alzheimer’s.