The Iowa State Cyclones and Oklahoma Sooners meet up tonight in Big 12 College Basketball action. The game is scheduled for a 9:00 p.m. start time and it will be televised nationally on ESPN. Currently the College Basketball Betting Odds for the game have Iowa State favored to pick up the win at home.
Iowa State just dropped a game in stunning fashion this weekend, falling at Kansas State despite holding the lead in the second half. That game was on the road, but the Cyclones did the same thing earlier last week as well, losing on their home floor to Baylor despite leading late in the contest. Fred Hoiberg cannot be pleased with his team's performance late in recent games, which is going to cost them a chance at a potential share for the Big 12 title.
Oklahoma is just a game behind conference-leader Kansas in the standings, a full game ahead of the log jam behind them that consists of Iowa State, Baylor and West Virginia. The Sooners can win tonight's game by beating up Iowa State on the glass and playing their style of basketball, a game where a lot of points are scored, but the Sooners finding ways to get stops.
Iowa State can obviously score a ton of points themselves, but the defense has not been good this season. The Cyclones surrender better than 69 points a game to their opponents, more than seven points a game more than Oklahoma is giving up. Might not seem like a lot, but Iowa State has to shore things up on the defensive end of the ball or they won't have a happy March. As good as they are offensively, the defense has flat out let them down.
In the most recent loss to Baylor, Iowa State blew its 21-game home winning streak. After another loss at Kansas State, the Cyclones should be dialed in for this one. Iowa State hasn't won at least a share of the Big 12 title since the 2000-2001 season and if they are going to get any piece of that again this year, they need to win tonight, against TCU on Saturday and hope for some help as well. It doesn't look great, but taking care of their own business certainly would help. Then again, had the Cyclones won their last two games, they'd be in the driver's seat.
Buddy Hield and Isaiah Cousins will look to counter an Iowa State offensive attack that has six players averaging double digits per game, led by Georges Niang. Iowa State can score, but if they don't play defense tonight they are going to lose. The last time these teams met Oklahoma posted 92 points. While this game certainly has the possibility of being a wide-open style, Iowa State will do just enough on the defensive end to win.
Free Pick: Iowa State 82, Oklahoma 77
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