The Iowa State Cyclones are quietly ranked in the Top 5 in the land thanks to a 6-0 start to the season. They should easily be 7-0 after whooping Buffalo at home on Monday before welcoming in the Iowa Hawkeyes on Thursday night.
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HOW THE IOWA HAWKEYES CAN COVER THE SPREAD
This game isn't beyond Iowa even though it's on the road against a hated rival which also happens to be one of the most talented teams in America.
It's all about running up and down the floor for the Hawkeyes. They do it well, averaging 83.0 points per game, and we've seen Fran McCaffery's side make really talented teams look silly defensively with the pace at which they run the offense.
It really all starts with Mike Gesell and Anthony Clemmons. You don't normally see us talking about team's fourth and fifth leading scorers as the keys to the game, but these are the ball handlers. They've combined for 89 assists against just 30 turnovers this year, and they badly need to keep that ratio around 3 to 1 in this game to have a shot at covering.
Iowa State is going to run as well, so Iowa is going to have to make a lot of good decisions with the basketball.
We know that Jared Uthoff, Peter Jok and Adam Woodbury are going to do their scoring, but they're going to be severely limited if Clemmons and Gesell don't get the ball in their hands effectively.
HOW THE IOWA STATE CYCLONES CAN COVER THE SPREAD
It's all about size and strength for the Cyclones. They've got three men in Abdel Nader, Georges Niang and Jameel McKay who could all go off for double-doubles in any given game, and Monte Morris isn't all that farfetched as a double-double man either.
The Cyclones aren't going to sub all that often, so staying out of foul trouble will understandably be key.
But go back and look at the shooting percentages of these top scorers. There are five men averaging at least 13.7 points per game for Iowa State. They're shooting 51.4, 53.7, 54.5, 60.0 and 47.7 percent from the field. If that keeps up, the Hawkeyes are in a lot of trouble.
ANALYSIS AND ODDS PREDICTION
This one could be a track meet, and the over is going to end up being the better play. However, given the choice of the two sides, we'd want the points with Iowa.
Iowa State is incredible, but games against Colorado, Virginia Tech and Illinois haven't prepared it for a game like this one. We do think that home court advantage is going to see the Cyclones through, but Iowa can run with the hosts in this game for sure.
If there is a single misstep from any of ISU’s main scorers, this game could become mighty interesting. As it is, we suspect the Hawkeyes will do enough to cover and enough to make this can't miss television for the entire 40 minutes in a game where no lead is going to be safe.
Iowa State 88, Iowa 84
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Real-time spreads, totals, props and moneyline odds are all available by clicking here, so starting betting with BookMaker today! The matchup between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Iowa State Cyclones will go down on Thursday, December 10, 2015 at 7:30 p.m. ET at Hilton Coliseum. You can watch the game live on ESPN2.
