Defending Big 12 Conference champions Iowa State Cyclones are back in the final after a nerve-wracking win over the Oklahoma Sooners. Will the Cyclones go back-to-back by beating Big 12 top seeds Kansas Jayhawks? This matchup also serves as a rubber-match for these teams’ season series as they have split their two meetings back in conference play.
Read on below for a detailed preview of this game. You can also click here for our breakdown of the ACC title showdown between Notre Dame and North Carolina.
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Iowa State Cyclones vs. Kansas Jayhawks Predictions Betting Preview
Big 12 teams are having a hard time ousting The Mayor and his Cyclones team. Fred Hoiberg’s Iowa State team got another close call on Friday, when they narrowly defeated the Oklahoma Sooners in the conference semifinals, 67-65. The win was reminiscent of their nail-biting 69-67 victory on Thursday over the Texas Longhorns. Iowa State has little time to celebrate the win, however, as it has a much tougher assignment up next: the Kansas Jayhawks.
[sc:NCAAB240banner ]Iowa State lost to Kansas 89-76 on February 2, the last time both teams met. In that game, Cyclones leading scorer Georges Niang pumped in a game-high 24 points, but his performance wasn’t enough to counter Kansas’ terrific shooting form as the Jayhawks made 10 three-pointers on 23 attempts. Niang, who led the Cyclones with 13 points against the Sooners, has averaged 22 points over his last four games against Kansas.
Known more for its offense (79 points per game) than its defense (69.4 points allowed per game), Iowa State must be able to stay with Kansas shooters to avoid another loss to Bill Self’s boys. Iowa State can also try to limit Kansas’ offensive touches by slowing down the game like it did in the Oklahoma game, where the Cyclones only had 66 possessions, fewer than their season average of 70.1 per game. Iowa State is sixth in the nation in offensive efficiency with 119.0 points per 100 possessions. Kansas, on the other hand, is less suited to play in a slow-paced game as it is generating a lower 111.4 points per 100 possessions.
Iowa State is 3-0-1 ATS in its last four games overall.
Notwithstanding an ugly performance, the Jayhawks managed to pull off a 62-52 win over the Baylor Bears on Friday to punch their tickets to the conference championship game later tonight.
Kansas had 18 turnovers and went just 3-of-12 from the three-point region against Baylor. The Jayhawks will have to fine-tune these areas if they are to take down Iowa State. They picked up 29 total turnovers but went 19-of-41 (46.3%) on their three-point attempts in two meetings with Iowa State thus far this season.
Kansas, however, got a boost in the Baylor game as Perry Ellis made his return to the floor after missing the previous two games due to a knee injury. Ellis scored 11 points and grabbed six rebounds in 26 minutes of action. Ellis is poised to make a huge impact against Iowa State, as he seems to be at his best when playing opposite the Cyclones. Ellis is averaging 21.5 points on an impressive 62.7 percent shooting over the last four times he’s faced Iowa State. He scored 30 points in a losing effort against Iowa State during last year’s conference semifinals matchup.
Freshman Kelly Oubre Jr., meanwhile, scored just nine points against Baylor a day after pouring 25 markers against TCU on Thursday. Oubre enters tonight contest averaging 14.5 points over Kansas’ last six games.
Kansas is 5-2 ATS in its last seven games against Iowa State.
