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

Central Michigan will square off with Ball State, in what is expected to be a tight men's college basketball game, at McGuirk Arena on Tuesday, beginning at 7:00 PM ET.

Based on the latest simulations, Dimers' advanced college basketball model gives Ball State a slight edge with a 52% win probability over Central Michigan.

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

Our leading predictive model gives Ball State a 52% chance of defeating Central Michigan. Our predicted final score has Ball State winning 71-70.

According to our model, Central Michigan (+1.5) has a 53% chance of covering the spread, while the over/under total of 142.5 points has an equal 50-50 chance of hitting.

Ball State vs. Central Michigan odds

We have researched 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: