The No. 9 Oklahoma Sooners will look to get back on track this coming Saturday against the struggling Iowa State Cyclones, who just want a Big 12 win. Will the Sooners add to the woes of Iowa State? Or will the Cyclones finally break in the Big 12 win column? Check out our preview of this game below.
Iowa State has yet to win a single game in conference play. The Cyclones’ Big 12 continue after falling prey to the West Virginia Mountaineers at home on Tuesday, 76-72. In fact, Iowa State has zero wins since the calendar flipped to 2021. The last time the Cyclones won was on Dec. 20 when they scored a 60-45 home win over a lowly Jackson State team. Iowa State is simply not doing very well on both ends of the floor. The Cyclones are averaging just 66.5 points per game while giving up 77.2 per contest. Their -10.6 average score margin is 313th in the nation, as of this writing. The Cyclones are not that bad, however, when it comes to covering the spread. They covered as 11.5-point spread underdogs against the Mountaineers. There aren’t a lot of elite things the Cyclones are doing this season, but at least they are the best in the Big 12 in defending against the three-ball as they are holding conference rivals down to just 28.6 percent shooting from deep.
Iowa State is 3-3 against the spread in its last six games overall.
The Sooners just saw their five-game win streak get snapped last Monday in a 57=52 road loss to the Texas Tech Red Raiders. It was a tough loss, but at least that was against a ranked team. Dealing with the Cyclones should be a whole lot easier for the Sooners compared to trying to eke out a victory against Mac McClung and the Red Raiders. The Sooners shot just 33.3 percent from the field against Texas Tech because that’s what the Red Raiders’ defense do to teams. Against Iowa State, the Sooners are expected to get easier baskets. As mentioned earlier, the Cyclones have one of the worst defenses in the nation. The Sooners can also find lots of extra possessions in this game since the Cyclones are one of the sloppiest teams in the nation. Iowa State is 307th overall with 16.0 turnovers per game and 322nd with a 20.2 turnover percentage. That must sound so tasty for Oklahoma’s defense that is tops in the conference with a 7.2 steal percentage.
Oklahoma is 9-1 against the spread in its last 10 games overall.
