The Kansas Jayhawks and the Iowa State Cyclones share the court for the second time this season and it’s the latter’s turn to be the host. Will the Jayhawks recover from an embarrassing loss and beat Iowa State? Or will the Cyclones avenge their loss in the initial meeting with Kansas? Check out our preview below of this Kansas-Iowa State Big 12 college basketball matchup.
Kansas’ win streak ended on Saturday at the hands of the Kentucky Wildcats. The Jayhawks got crushed at home versus John Calipari’s Wildcats, 80-62. Kentucky big man Oscar Tshiebwe was simply too much for Kansas, as the Wildcats big man pulled down 14 boards to go with 17 points. Overall, Kansas was just -12 in the rebounding battle. Kansas should have a better chance of holding its own on the glass and in the shaded area versus Iowa State, which lost to the Jayhawks in Lawrence earlier this month, 62-61. Even though their offense got pinned down by Kentucky, the Jayhawks are still dangerous on that end of the floor. The Jayhawks are third in the nation in adjusted offensive efficiency with 120.3 points per 100 possessions and eighth with 81.5 points per outing. They also still own an elite 55.6 effective field goal percentage. Ochai Agbaji knows his way on offense, and he dropped 22 points in 39 minutes in the first meeting with Iowa State.
Kansas is 4-3-1 against the spread in its last eight games away from Lawrence.
Iowa State is building some nice momentum. After losing to the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the TCU Horned Frogs, the Cyclones have gone 2-0 straight up with back-to-back wins over the Oklahoma State Cowboys and the Missouri Tigers. The win over the Cowboys was a Quadrant 1 victory for the Cyclones, who are 4-2 against the spread in their last six games. Then in the win over the Tigers, Iowa State leaned on the exploits of Izaiah Brockington and Tyrese Hunter, who had 15 and 14 points, respectively, and forced Mizzou to commit +2 turnovers. Speaking of which, the Cyclones are among the best in the nation in forcing errors. They are 10th in opponents’ turnovers per game (17.5) and fourth in turnover rate (22.4%). Kansas was +4 in turnovers (16-12) in the first meeting with the Cyclones, with Iowa State coming up with eight steals to just four by the Jayhawks. Those pesky hands on defense will be there for the Cyclones in this rematch versus Kansas.
Iowa State is 6-4 against the spread in its last 10 games as the home team.
