Cincinnati vs Iowa State Prediction 1/17/26 College Basketball Picks Today

The Iowa State Cyclones and the Cincinnati Bearcats meet Saturday in college basketball action from Fifth Third Arena. Here’s a Cincinnati vs Iowa State prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Cincinnati vs Iowa State pick.

Iowa State Cyclones Betting Preview

The Cyclones opened the season on a spectacular run, but just suffered their first blemish this week. Through their first 16 games, Iowa State dispatched Fairleigh Dickinson, Grambling, Mississippi State, Stonehill, St. John’s, Creighton, Syracuse, Alcorn State, Purdue, Iowa, Eastern Illinois, Long Beach State, Houston Christian, West Virginia and Oklahoma State in succession. After a loss to Kansas however, the Cyclones are sitting at 16-1 overall.

On Tuesday versus Kansas, the Cyclones were blitzed 44-23 in the first half. Iowa State kept the pace from there on a 40-40 run but couldn’t get any closer in an eventual loss 84-63. Leading the team in scoring during the losing effort were Joshua Jefferson with 12 points and eight boards, and Jamarion Batemon with 12 points, one rebound and one assist in 19 minutes of work on the court.

Cincinnati Bearcats Betting Preview

Over on the Bearcats’ side, they beat Western Carolina, Georgia State, Dayton and Mount St. Mary’s in their first four games this year. A 2-4 stretch was on the card next with losses to Louisville, Eastern Michigan, Xavier and Georgia. The next three were a 2-1 run with a loss to Clemson in between wins over Alabama State and Lipscomb. Three more losses to Houston, West Virginia and UCF came next, giving the Bearcats an 8-8 record on the year through 16 games.

Matched up against Colorado on Wednesday the Bearcats jumped out to a 43-25 advantage by the end of the first half. Cincinnati got outscored 43-34 from there, but had built up enough of a lead for a 77-68 win in the end at home. Tops in scoring was Baba Miller, who doubled up on 25 points, 11 rebounds and four assists. Moustapha Thiam added 15 points with two rebounds in the victory effort for the Bearcats as well.

Why the Cincinnati Bearcats will win

• Cincinnati has won each of its last 19 games at Fifth Third Arena when playing with a rest disadvantage.
• Iowa State has lost 16 of its last 19 January road games as a top-15 AP-ranked team.
• The home team has won the first half in six of Iowa State’s last seven games.

Why the Iowa State Cyclones will win

• Cincinnati has lost each of its last 21 games against Top 10 AP-ranked opponents.
• Iowa State has won each of its last 10 day games against non-AP-ranked opponents.
• Iowa State has won the first half in each of its last eight day games against non-AP-ranked opponents.

Cincinnati vs Iowa State Prediction

I’ll stay with the Cyclones. Iowa State needs a good bounce-back effort after a pretty flat loss to Kansas this week, though. In that one the Cyclones shot a dismal 36.9 percent from the field and 54.5 percent (6-of-11) from the line. The Cyclones were out-rebounded 36-31 and had 12 turnovers as well. It was Iowa State’s lowest-scoring game of the year; they’d previously been below 70 points just once (66 versus Iowa in a four-point home win).

As for Cincinnati, they rolled right past a good Colorado team in their latest home win with 44.6 percent shooting, 28 rebounds and 18 team assists. The Bearcats could have been much better from 3-point range at just 18.8 percent (3-of-16) however, and the team had a very slim edge on both rebounds (28-27) and points in the paint (28-26). That said, Cincinnati needed that victory after three straight losses. This matchup is going to be even tougher.