NCAA basketball on Friday night and it is the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament. In this matchup we will see the Iowa State Cyclones take on the Kansas Jayhawks at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri. The game has a start time of 7:00 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on ESPN U. Vegas odds have the Jayhawks listed as 3.5 point favorites, while the total sits at 155.5.
Stat Pack: The Jayhawks come in a 24-8 after beating Oklahoma 77-70 in OT yesterday. They have split their last 4 games overall, but now appear to have a shot at grabbing a number 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. The Jayhawks have a high powered offense that averages 79.5 ppg, which is 25th in the nation. They shoot the ball very well, hitting 49.6% of their shots, which is 6th in the nation. The Jayhawks are led by super freshman Andrew Wiggins, who averages a 17.2 ppg, while Perry Ellis is second on the team in scoring at 13.1 ppg. The Jayhawks were dealt a big blow with Joel Embiid expected to miss two weeks of action. He shot 62.6% from the floor for 11.2 ppg, while leading the team in rebounding at 8.1 rpg. Those numbers will be missed. On defense the Jayhawks are pretty average, allowing 69.7 ppg on 41.1% shooting. They do struggle defending the 3 ball, allowing teams to hit 35.1% from long range, which is 225nd in the nation. Kansas ranks 35th in the nation in rebounding (38.2 rpg).
The Iowa State Cyclones beat the Kansas State 91-85 yesterday to move on to the semifinals of the Big 12 tournament. The win now has the Cyclones at 24-7 on the year and 12-7 in the Big 12. The Cyclones are a high scoring team that averages 82.8 ppg, which is 6th in the nation and they do so on 46.9% shooting, which is 55th in the land. The Cyclones have 3 players that average at least 16 ppg, led by Melvin Ejim, who scores 18.4 ppg, while DeAndre Kane (16.9 ppg) and Georges Niang (16.3 ppg) round out the solid trio. Ejim also leads the team in rebounding (8.7 rpg), while Kane leads the team in assists (179). Dustin Hogue is second on the team in rebounding (8.6 rpg), while also averaging 10.4 ppg. Although the Cyclones allow teams to hit just 41.3% of their shots (81st), this is not a good defense as they allow 73.9 ppg on the year, which is 279th in the nation. The Cyclones are a good rebounding team as they rank 20th, pulling down 39.1 rpg.
Pick: These teams have played some high scoring games of late, but this is Tournament play and thus I will expect a lower scoring game than the teams are used to. Kansas needs to slow the pace some with out Embiid in there cause they lost some offense with him out. They played a solid defensive game vs OSU last night and have allowed 72 or less in 6 of their last 8 games. ISU put up 91 points on Kansas State last night, but that just won't happen in this game. I look for just a bit more defense in this game, which should keep this game under 150.
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