One of the most underrated rivalries in college sports is that of the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Iowa State Cyclones. These schools don’t share a conference, but share an intense rivalry as the two main programs in the state of Iowa. It’s no different on the basketball court and these two teams will play another game in the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series this Thursday. It’s a chance for both Iowa and Iowa State to pick up a decent non-conference win and both schools need it.
This war on the floor will go down Thursday, December 7, 2017, at 8 p.m. ET at the Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa. The game will be televised live on ESPN2. We'll have NCAA basketball odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the college basketball Thursday schedule.
Opening College Basketball Odds at BookMaker.eu
The Hawkeyes have not gotten odd to a good start this season and only have one decent win on their resume. That came against a 5-3 UAB team that might make some noise in Conference USA later in the season
Other than that, it’s been bad for Fran McCaffery and Iowa. The Hawkeyes are 4-5 and are 1-4-1 ATS with losses to Penn State, South Dakota State, and Louisiana-Lafayette.
Iowa State is in a little better position after winning the Puerto Rico Tip Off. The Cyclones had not looked good in blowout losses to Missouri and Wisconsin-Milwaukee, but have now won five straight. They have not been a great team for bettors though, posting a 2-5 ATS mark on the season.
Player to Watch
Tyler Cook has been the Hawkeyes’ best player this season. Cook leads Iowa in both points and rebounds and has been very efficient from the floor this year. He is knocking down 57.3 percent of his threes and is a solid free throw shooter to boot.
Despite this, McCaffery only played Cook for just 14 minutes in Iowa’s loss to Indiana on Monday. Cook did get into a little bit of foul trouble in the first half, but sat for long stretches and ended up with just three fouls in the game.
It was a rather odd decision given his importance to the team. Cook was the main reason that Iowa almost knocked off Penn State and was dominant against UAB. Maybe McCaffery was trying to teach Cook a lesson or there was another matter we don’t know about, but to sit your best player for so long is puzzling. It will be interesting to see how much he plays in this one.
Key Injuries
Iowa State beat Northern Illinois with just eight healthy players on Monday and may have limited depth against Iowa too. Jakolby Long has sat out the last two games with a concussion and Zoran Talley missed the NIU game with a bruised foot. Both players are listed as day-to-day and are officially considered questionable for this game.
Neither player is a starter, but both provide solid depth. Long is a guard that has been an efficient shooter when he has been on the court and Talley is a big body that can grab rebounds. If both are out, don’t be surprised if Iowa adopts a more physical style in order to get Iowa State into early foul trouble.
Free College Basketball ATS Picks
The Cyclones are the better team heading into this one and are playing at home. They should be a decent favorite according to the betting odds, but that hasn’t always worked out in this series. Iowa State was ranked heading into this game last year, but got thumped by Iowa in Iowa City 78-64. The year before that, the Cyclones were No. 4 in the country but just barely squeaked by the Hawkeyes at home, earning a one-point victory.
I think Iowa is going to keep this one close enough to get the cover with Cook having an excellent game against the Cyclones.
College Basketball Odds: Iowa State 80, Iowa 77
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