Thursday, March 13th, 7:00 p.m. (et)

FACTS & STATS: Site: Quicken Loans Arena (20,562) -- Cleveland, Ohio. Television: FSN. Home Record: Toledo 9-3, KSU 16-0. Away Record: Toledo 1-15, KSU 8-5. Neutral Record: Toledo 1-0, KSU 1-1. Conference Record: Toledo 7-8, KSU 13-3. Series Record: Toledo leads, 78-40.

GAME NOTES: The top-seeded Kent State Golden Flashes will try to finish what they started when they take the floor against the eighth-seeded Toledo Rockets in quarterfinal play at the Quicken Loans Arena. The Rockets had to battle in their opening round matchup against Bowling Green, but were able to pull out the 52-48 victory over the Falcons. Toledo closed out its regular season with two consecutive victories and a 7-8 record in MAC play. As for the Golden Flashes, they were outstanding this season, finishing with a school-record 25 victories. Kent State won eight of its last nine contests, and finished with an impressive 13-3 league ledger. Since 1999, the Flashes have dominated the MAC Tournament, playing in six championship matchups. KSU won four of those six games and the most recent came in 2006 when the Flashes defeated Toledo, 71-66. Tonight's winner will head to the semifinals to take on either Miami-Ohio or Ohio. With respects to the all-time series on the hardwood, the Rockets have dominated Kent State over the years, posting a 77-40 advantage over the Flashes. These two schools clashed just once this year, and the Rockets handed Kent State one of its three conference losses by a 59-56 margin.

The Rockets were able to grab a four-point victory over Bowling Green, even though the team had trouble throughout the contest. Toledo shot just 33.3 percent from the floor and made only 1-of-17 attempts from behind the arc. However, Toledo did connect on 17-of-26 shots from the foul line and also forced BGSU into 17 turnovers. Jonathan Amos, who is averaging 12.4 ppg on the season, led the way with 15 points against BGSU and also collected five steals. Tyrone Kent connected on just 2-of-10 attempts from the field, but finished with 12 points, while Jerrah Young added 11 points to go along with nine rebounds. Kent has been the main scoring threat for Toledo, as the guard is posting 16.9 ppg. Throughout the season, Toledo has struggled offensively, netting just 59.8 ppg.

Kent State has the defensive strategy to shut down almost any opponent and heads into this tournament, limiting teams to just 62.4 ppg, while holding opponents to just 41.1 percent shooting from the floor. Kent State has forced 16.5 tpg on the season, and has recorded a conference best 268 steals. At the other end of the floor, the Golden Flashes are being paced by Al Fisher, who is averaging 14.3 ppg to go along with a team-high 131 assists. Mike Scott and Haminn Quaintance have been a very impressive duo in the paint for Kent State, as Scott is producing 13.0 ppg to go along with 6.2 rpg, while Quaintance is chipping in 9.9 and a team-best 7.5 rpg. Overall, the Golden Flashes are averaging 69.5 ppg on the year, while shooting 46.0 percent from the floor.

The Rockets surprisingly took down Kent State earlier this season, but that will likely not happen for a second time. Kent State is tougher at both ends of the floor and should have no trouble moving into the next round.

Predicted Outcome

Kent State 72, Toledo 58