The Iowa State Cyclones and the Kansas Jayhawks meet Saturday in college basketball action from Allen Fieldhouse. Iowa State is currently 13-2 on the year. The Cyclones beat Texas Tech in their last game. As for Kansas, they’re 15-1 overall and coming off a close victory versus Oklahoma. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Iowa State went 7-1 to kick off the year (losing to UConn), then lost to Iowa on December 8. Since then it’s been wins over McNeese State, Western Michigan, Baylor, Oklahoma, TCU and Texas Tech in succession.
On Tuesday versus Texas Tech, the Cyclones jumped out to a 39-20 halftime lead. Iowa State posted a 45-30 run from there and won it 84-50. Gabe Kalscheur led the team on 25 points, and Jaren Holmes added 15 points.
Over on the Kansas side, their only loss so far was to Tennessee 64-50 on November 25. The Jayhawks have beaten TX Southern, Seton Hall, Missouri, Indiana, Harvard, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, West Virginia and Oklahoma since then.
In the Oklahoma game on Tuesday, the Jayhawks held a slim 36-34 lead by the break. Kansas hit a 43-41 advantage in the second half and escaped with a 79-75 win. KJ Adams was tops on 22 points and six rebounds in the victory.
PICK: I’m going to take a stab on Iowa State here. We should have a pretty great matchup in store regardless, though. The Cyclones handled Texas Tech quite well in their last game, shooting 49.3 percent from the field with a 45-28 rebounding advantage (17-7 offensive). The Cyclones have scored 69 or more points in five of their last six outings and they’re on a nice run right now. As for Kansas, they’ve had three wins by four or fewer points in their last four games. Iowa State should be able to keep pace if they’re playing well. It’ll be a fun game to watch.