Iowa State vs IUPUI 11/7/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The IUPUI Jaguars and the Iowa State Cyclones meet in college basketball action from the Hilton Coliseum on Monday night.

The IUPUI Jaguars will hope for better results in year two under Matt Crenshaw, hitting rock bottom with a 3-26 record, including a 1-16 mark in Horizon League play amidst one of the worst offensive displays in the country per game last season. Injuries played a massive role in why IUPUI struggled as much as they did, so much so that the Jaguars played their Horizon League tournament game with no bench players. The Jaguars lost their lone double-digit scorer from last year in B.J. Maxwell (12.5 PPG, 5 RPG), but the Jaguars did well in the transfer portal, bringing in Bryce Monroe from San Diego and Chris Osten from Northern Illinois as well as JUCO transfer Cooper DeWitt, who had 13.7 PPG and 3.1 APG for North Idaho last season. It can seemingly only go up from here for the Jaguars, but just how far up is the question.

The Iowa State Cyclones will try to build on a fairly successful 2021-22 season, finishing the year 22-13 overall, which included a 7-11 mark in Big 12 play. The Cyclones lost their opening game in the Big 12 tournament to Texas Tech, but still qualified for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament and made the most of their chance as an 11-seed, taking out LSU and Wisconsin before falling to Miami in the Sweet 16. The Cyclones have to retool with Izaiah Brockington done after leading the Cyclones with 16.9 PPG and 6.8 RPG last season, but the transfer portal gifted Iowa State some solid talent like Jaren Holmes and Osun Osunniyi, a pair of double-digit scorers from St. Bonaventure as well as Jeremiah Williams from Temple and Hason Ward from VCU to compliment returning pieces like Gabe Kalscheur, who had 9.5 PPG last season. Only time will tell if the Cyclones can make the next step in the Big 12 this season.

IUPUI is 4-0 ATS in their last 4 road games while the under is 19-8 in their last 27 games overall. Iowa State is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 home games and 3-9-1 ATS in their last 13 Monday games while the under is 4-0 in their last 4 games overall.

I get the case to be made for an underdog in some spots, but not this spot. This IUPUI team is terrible and I just flash back to the conference tournament where they played a game with no bench. Iowa State’s retooling, but they’ve got a solid group of players coming in and this IUPUI team will just feel like a practice session for Iowa State. I think this one gets ugly in a hurry, so give me Iowa State.