The Eastern Michigan Eagles are having a rather unremarkable season so far. At 7-9 with losses to Loyola Chicago, Detroit Mercy, Oakland and Toledo, there hasn’t been much of a reason to follow the 8th-place team in the MAC too closely.

However, gambling integrity monitors are still watching closely, and flagged two games involving the Eagles for suspicious activity — most recently on January 14 against Central Michigan.

Here’s everything we know about the probe:

What was the suspicious bet that triggered an investigation?

This is one of the easier questions to answer, because while we may not have all the details yet, we do know what caught the attention of integrity monitors.

According to ESPN’s David Purdum, a legal bettor attempted to place their largest wager to date on Central Michigan to cover the first-half spread against EMU.

Shortly after, integrity monitors alerted sportsbooks and regulators about the unusual action. A closer look by monitors found two other “high stakes wagers” on CMU to cover the first half spread placed in Tennessee and Connecticut, per Purdum.

How big of bets are we talking?

The actual amounts aren’t clear, but we do know it was enough to push the first half spread from CMU -3.5 to CMU -6.5 an hour before tipoff. That’s a highly unusual shift. Central Michigan led 39-33 at the half, covering -3.5 but missing for anyone who had -6.5.

OK, back up, who are these integrity monitors?

Ah, yes, good question. These are watchdog firms who track betting activity and help make sure everything is on the up and up. In this specific scenario, Integrity Compliance 360 flagged the suspicious activity but, according to Purdum, the International Betting Integrity Agency was also looking into a college basketball game played on January 14.

Other monitors, like U.S. Integrity, regularly alert sportsbooks, operators and regulators to suspicious betting patterns as well.

Is this the first alert about an EMU game?

It it not. According to Purdum, IC360 also sent out an alert about suspicious betting in a Wright State-EMU game on December 21, 2024.

In that case, as with the CMU game, the suspicious action was on EMU’s opponent to cover the first half spread (-2.5). Wright State did so easily, taking a 38-27 lead into halftime before ultimately losing to EMU, 86-82.

What about that is sketchy?

As Purdum explains:

First-half lines typically are equal to around 50% of the full-game point spread. The point spread on the full game between Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan closed at -8, while the first-half line closed at -6.5.

In some of the other games flagged by bookmakers and bettors, enough action came in to cause the first-half line to close equal or greater than the line on the full game.

“Couldn’t be a bigger red flag than closing higher on a half than a [full] game,” a veteran Las Vegas bookmaker said.

So what’s the implication here? Is Eastern Michigan shaving points?

It is far too soon to make any kind of judgement like that. We simply don’t have enough information available yet.

But there is a concern here that goes back to last season, when an investigation was opened on a Temple player for shaving points.

More from Purdum:

The unusual betting activity on first halves is part of a trend that veteran bookmakers and professional bettors have been tracking on college basketball games dating to last season, including on games involving Temple, multiple gambling industry sources told ESPN.

…

Multiple offshore sportsbooks and at least one U.S. book have removed the option to bet first halves on select games this season. The alert on the Wright State-Eastern Michigan games, a copy of which ESPN obtained, states that the suspicious wagering was on the Wright State first-half spread of -2.5.

“At this time, there is belief of a potential tie between these bettors, and bettors who placed suspicious wagers on First Half markets in flagged games last season,” the alert states.

What’s Eastern Michigan saying?

Not much at all. Which is expected. The school, much like the public, is waiting on more details to emerge.

“We became aware of the matter on Wednesday and a review is underway,” a spokesperson for Eastern Michigan told ESPN. “At this time we do not know anything further about what may have precipitated the suspicious activity. We are working with the Mid-American Conference and will provide further details as we learn additional information.”

Stay tuned here as we learn more.