Iowa State Will Get Revenge On Arizona

Arizona vs. Iowa State, 9:00 ET

College basketball is one of my favorite sports - or division of sports - however you want to describe it. Basketball is my favorite sport in general, but this year has been absolutely brutal in the NBA while college hoops have been pretty amazing. As we wind down this basketball season, I'm excited to see how many more units we can grab from the books this year. Today we focus on two teams we have looked at a few times this season as Arizona takes on Iowa State. 

Arizona comes into this game with a 19-9 record, and they are currently ranked 22nd in the nation. The Big 12 hasn't been the best conference in the country, but I probably would argue they are third best and could potentially even be the second best. So, Arizona, sitting currently in second in the conference is in a good spot and probably should be taken seriously. In Big 12 play, the Wildcats are 13-4. The losses have come on the road against Texas Tech and Kansas State. The other two games they lost were home games against Houston and BYU. They are just 2-3 over the past five games with the losses coming against everyone but Texas Tech. The three losses were all close games with them being by a combined eight points. Arizona has had an interesting season though because they started off struggling, running out to a 4-5 record. Whatever adjustments the team made though have transformed their season. In the grand scheme of things, this doesn't matter all that much if they win or lose the game. They won't catch Houston, but they could be a two-seed with a win in the Conference Tournament. 

Feb 1, 2025; Tempe, Ariz., U.S.; Arizona Wildcats guard Caleb Love (1) reacts after sinking a 3-point shot during a Big 12 menÕs basketball game against the Arizona State Sun Devils at Desert Financial Arena.

Iowa State has also put together a remarkable campaign this year. It hasn't been without it's own dips and blips, though. For the year they are 21-7 and currently sit at 4th in the standings for Big 12 teams. Nationally, they are getting recognition and are currently sitting at 9th from that perspective. Thye have lost six of their seven games to Big 12 teams. Two of their losses have come in their last two games as they dropped games to Houston and to Oklahoma State. The Houston game wasn't much of a surprise, but they probably should've beaten Oklahoma State. The other losses were at West Virginia, at Arizona, at home against Kansas State, and at Kansas. None of their seven losses this season were unexplainable, but they have lost a couple of games by double-digits. The game against Arizona was actually one that I had wrong. I bet on Iowa State, as the better team, to win. They allowed a three-quarters court shot to Arizona and that sent the game to overtime where Arizona had all the momentum and put the Cyclones away.

In today's game, I have to expect that Iowa State will get some revenge. They've had moments of struggling to shoot and score, and this might be a stretch of it, but I think there is a bit of revenge. They had the game snatched away from them. Even with Arizona playing better, I think this is a game that Iowa State will take. Back them to cover the number.

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