Villanova vs Iowa State 11/24/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Iowa State Cyclones and the Villanova Wildcats meet in college basketball action from the Moda Center on Thursday.

The Iowa State Cyclones will look to build on their 68-53 win over Milwaukee in their last game. Jaren Holmes leads the Cyclones in scoring with 18.3 PPG along with 4.7 RPG and 3.3 APG while Aljaz Kunc has 12 PPG with a team-high 7 RPG to lead Iowa State on the glass as the Cyclones’ top rebounder. Osun Osunniyi has 11.3 PPG to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for Iowa State up to this point in the season. Tamin Lipsey also has a team-high 4 APG to lead Iowa State in assists this season. As a team, Iowa State is averaging 78.7 PPG on 45.7% shooting from the field, 26.9% from three and 74.5% from the foul line this season.

The Villanova Wildcats will hope to find some consistency after alternating wins and losses in each of their first four games of the year after a 73-71 loss to Michigan State last time out. Eric Dixon leads Villanova in scoring and assists with 19.8 PPG and 2.5 APG while Caleb Daniels has 15.8 PPG along with 5 RPG as well this season. Brandon Slater has 13 PPG with 5.8 RPG to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for Villanova up to this point in the year as the Wildcats’ top rebounder. As a team, Villanova is averaging 69 PPG on 46.8% shooting from the field, 33.7% from three and 84.5% from the foul line this season.

Iowa State is 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games following an ATS loss and 6-2 ATS in their last 8 neutral site games while the under is 7-0 in their last 7 games overall. Villanova is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 neutral site games and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games overall while the under is 9-1 in their last 10 games following an ATS win.

I think you could make the case either way in this matchup, as Villanova’s had some ups and downs early but Iowa State’s had a cupcake schedule up to this point in the season. That being said, tougher schedule or not, I still am not a fan of this Villanova team and it just looks like this is going to be a growing pains season under Kyle Neptune. I don’t think it’s going to be a full-on rebuild for Villanova, I just don’t think they’ll be as good or successful as a lot of folks think they will be. This Iowa State team always shows up, plays solid defense and is always a live dog. I’ll take the free bucket with the Cyclones here.