Iowa’s strong start to the season continued on Tuesday night as they strolled to their sixth consecutive victory with an emphatic 23-point win over the Alcorn-State Braves. Making it seven wins in a row won’t be that easy, though, as standing in their way this coming Friday are the Iowa State Cyclones whose playing some delightful basketball to start the season as well, having won six of their first seven games.
Read on below for a preview of this much-anticipated showdown between long-time crosstown rivals. If you’re looking for other sports action, though, you can check out our complete NFL Week 15 predictions here.
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Iowa State Cyclones vs. Iowa Hawkeyes Betting Preview
[sc:NCAAB240banner ]The 22-year-old continued his strong start to his Iowa State career, exploding for 22 points Tuesday night to lead the Cyclones to a convincing 73-56 victory over the UMKC Kangaroos. The former UNLV hotshot was red-hot from the field, shooting at a high 9-for-12 clip to lead the Cyclones to their 25th straight win over non-conference opponents at home.
It has been a great start to the season for the Cyclones who have won six of their first seven games. All of those came at home, though, and it will be fascinating to see how they will react when they travel to Carver-Hawkeye Arena to face Iowa in their first major test of the season.
They will fancy their chances of extending their winning streak to four games, though, because of the outstanding form of DeJean-Jones. The highly-sought after senior transferee has been a godsend for the Cyclones this season scoring an average of 16.3 points per game through their first seven games.
His offensive brilliance has been put in display these past two games where he has scored a total of 49 points, leading the Cyclones to key victories over Arkansas and UMKC. He will need all the help he can get, though, against an Iowa team that is 18th in scoring defense this season, allowing a measly 56.1 points per game.
One guy who must step up is Iowa State star Georges Niang. After scoring 26 points and dishing out eight assists in their previous game against Arkansas, Niang was held to just nine points on 1-of-4 shooting by the Kangaroos. That’s surprising considering Niang is averaging a team-best 19.5 points per contest this season.
Aaron White made sure Iowa will head to their clash with Iowa State with their six-game winning streak intact after thrashing the Alcorn St. Braves 67-44 Tuesday night. White led the Hawkeyes with 15 points to give Iowa their eighth win in 10 games. White has been an offensive machine for the Hawkeyes this season, scoring in double-figures in all of Iowa’s 10 games.
It wasn’t a walk in the park, though, for the Hawkeyes who struggled mightily on the field, particularly from beyond the arc. The Hawkeyes tied a season-low by making just 3 of their 19 three-point attempts. Getting it going against Iowa State will be a tough task, though, as the Cyclones have proven adept at guarding the long ball this season.
The Razorbacks can attest to that fact after their perimeter offense was stopped by an aggressive Iowa State defense. The Razorbacks were held to just 9-of-25 (36%) shooting by Iowa State in their clash last week. That’s way below Arkansas’ 45% clip prior to that game.
Still, this Iowa team will fancy their chances of beating Iowa State this coming Friday because of the way they’re playing excellent defense themselves. The Hawkeyes have held their opponents to just 33.8 percent shooting from the field this season, seventh-best in the entire NCAA. Their defense is even better at home as their opponents are shooting at just a 30.8 percent clip from the field at Carver-Hawkeye Stadium.
That defensive intensity was evident in their last game against the Braves where they held Alcorn-State without a field goal for an eight-minute stretch. Doing it against the Cyclones won’t be that easy though. Iowa State is 10th in the nation in scoring this season, averaging 85.3 points per game.
