Iowa State vs West Virginia Prediction Basketball Picks 2-24-24

The West Virginia Mountaineers and the Iowa State Cyclones meet Saturday in college basketball action from Hilton Coliseum. West Virginia is currently 9-17 overall this year following a win over UCF in their last game. As for Iowa State, they’re coming off a loss to Houston that dropped the Cyclones to 20-6 on the year. Let’s get into our West Virginia vs. Iowa State prediction. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

West Virginia Mountaineers

The Mountaineers opened up the year on a sketchy 7-11 run through their first 18 games. West Virginia has gone just 2-6 since then, with wins over UCF, Oklahoma State, BYU, Texas, TCU and Baylor alongside a pair of victories versus Cincinnati and UCF in that time.

In the rematch with UCF on Tuesday, the Mountaineers held a seven-point edge going into the second half. West Virginia hit a 40-37 run the rest of the way during a victory 77-67 in the end. RaeQuan Battle was the leading team scorer on 24 points and five rebounds in 32 minutes.

Iowa State Cyclones

Over on the Cyclones’ side, they lost to only Virginia Tech, Texas A&M, Oklahoma and BYU in their first 20 games of the year. Iowa State would then drop another one to Baylor before wins over Texas, TCU, Cincinnati, Texas Tech and another loss to Houston.

Back on Monday in the Houston game, the Cyclones faced a five-point deficit going into the second half. Iowa State didn’t end up getting any closer on a 45-42 run the rest of the way and lost 73-65. Keshon Gilbert was the top team scorer with 17 points, five assists and four rebounds in the defeat.

ANDREW’S FREE WEST VIRGINIA VS IOWA STATE PREDICTION

I’ll stay with Iowa State. The line’s a bit too thick to mess with, though. The Cyclones couldn’t quite keep pace with a tough Houston team on the road in their last outing despite hitting 9-of-17 (52.9 percent) from 3-point range with a 39-30 rebounding edge. Iowa State coughed up 16 turnovers in that one, leading to 20 Cougars points. The good news is that the Cyclones had hit 68 or more points in nine straight games prior to that and should score pretty well here.

As for West Virginia, they’ve scored a combined 158 points across their last two games. The Mountaineers are giving up a ton of offense these days, though: 81 or more points in four of the last five games. Iowa State should have ample scoring opportunities in this one so I like a cover from the Cyclones here.