Cyclones Will Keep Kansas From Moving Up Ranks

Kansas vs. Iowa State, 7:00 ET

I had a great night last night. Just how good was it? NBA 3-0. NHL 1-0. NCAA Basketball 2-0. A perfect 6-0 night was just what I needed to get things back on track and head into the middle of the week. I'm sure there will be a rough day coming to balance this out, but I was very happy to have a big night last night and hope I can continue it here. We have some great games tonight on the hardwood, but none should be better than this one between Kansas and Iowa State.

Kansas comes into this game with a strong 12-3 record and is currently ranked as the ninth-best team in the country. They are just 3-1 in conference play, and a win tonight could go a long way in conference standings. The loss in conference play was one that was a bit surprising as the team lost to West Virginia. It isn't necessarily that they lost to them, but that Kansas was at home when it happened. They only lost the game by one point, but that also kind of gives me pause that they couldn't pull out the close game on their own court. Their other two losses came in back-to-back games against Creighton and Missouri, both were on the road and happened in early December. The team is built around two guys - Hunter Dickinson, their center, and Zeke Mayo, a guard. However, they also have Dajuan Harris Jr. who has proven that he can do a good job of carrying the scoring load for the squad as well. However, he hasn't been as consistent Dickinson or Mayo this year. Still this game will be about winning on the boards and they rely mostly on Dickinson to handle that portion of the game. The biggest issue I've seen with Kansas to this point is they aren't a great 3-point shooting team, knocking in just 33.1% of attempts this season.

Jan 11, 2025; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA;  Kansas Jayhawks center Hunter Dickinson (1) drives to the basket against Cincinnati Bearcats forward Aziz Bandaogo (55) in the second half at Fifth Third Arena. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-Imagn Images

Iowa State has been great to start the year and is currently ranked second in the nation.  They are 14-1 overall and 4-0 in conference play. They are coming off of a really tough battle as they went down to the wire with Texas Tech, winning by just one point, on the road, in overtime. You could make a rather strong argument that Iowa State might be the best team in the country considering that the only team they lost to is Auburn. That game came on a neutral court, and they dropped it by just two points. Since that loss, which came on November 25th, they've won every game. In that span of 11 games, very few have even been close. As mentioned, there was the Texas Tech game, and there are two other games that came within nine points. Everything else was by 10+ points. Their primary scorer is Curtis Jones, who is averaging 17.3 points per game, but Keshon Gilbert, another guard is close behind at 16.1 points. They aren't that much better of a three-point shooting team than Kansas, but they do seem to be more diverse with scoring option with six guys averaging 9.5 points or more for the year. 

The better team here is Iowa State, but the question is if Kansas will be able to knock down more threes in this one than their opponent. That's pretty much the standard reasoning anymore for winning a basketball game, but I think the Cyclones are the better side in this one. At home, playing a team they match up with fairly well, and being the deeper team, I'll back Iowa State -6.5 in this one. 

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