It’s been a nightmare start to the season for Fran McCaffery and the Iowa Hawkeyes. While most power conference teams are currently padding their records with games against overmatched teams, the Hawkeyes decided to schedule some name out-of-conference foes to get their team ready for the rigors of Big Ten play. The results have been disastrous. Iowa has lost to every power conference foe it has faced and now the Hawkeyes are 4-5 heading into their showdown with the Iowa State Cyclones, with their best win being against Stetson.
At 8 p.m. ET, turn the dial to ESPN2 for live television coverage of this NCAA basketball game on Thursday, December 8, 2016, at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. We will have NCAA basketball odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the college basketball Thursday schedule.
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Iowa State may have lost a lot of talent from its roster, but the Cyclones have performed well so far this season. The only loss that was somewhat embarrassing was a 55-54 overtime defeat at the hands of Cincinnati that highlighted the Cyclones shooting woes. Those shooting woes have made under a lucrative bet in Iowa State games this season though with the under cashing in five straight games.
Iowa has made the NCAA Tournament two years running but now has an uphill battle to climb if it wants to make it back this season. The Hawkeyes were dismantled by Virginia, thrashed by Notre Dame, suffered losses to Seton Hall and Memphis as short favorites, and lost a howler of a game to Nebraska-Omaha as well. It’s no surprise this team is just 1-5 ATS on the season with three outright losses as a favorite.
Last Year’s Meeting
Iowa State has won three straight and six of its last seven against Iowa, and notched one of its most exhilarating wins of the series last season. In that game, the Hawkeyes rushed out to a 20-point first-half lead and it looked like Iowa was going to pull off a huge upset over the then No. 4 Cyclones. However, Iowa State refused to go away.
The Cyclones cut into the deficit before halftime and then slowly whittled the lead down throughout the rest of the second half, but couldn’t quite get over the hump and take the lead. Down 1 with time running out, it was Monte Morris who took it upon himself to make a play. Morris drove into the lane and hit a running jumper to give Iowa State its first lead of the game with just 9 ticks on the clock.
Iowa State held on for the win last season and Morris is now the star of the team. He is averaging 15.9 PPG and 5.9 APG this season and has been a dynamite shooter from the floor. With so many of last year’s starters gone, Steve Prohm has relied on him in a big way this season.
Key Stat
Since his time at Siena, McCaffery’s teams have been high scoring, but the defense has been a major issue this season. The Hawkeyes are allowing over 83 PPG this season and opponents are able to shoot against this defense at will and control the glass.
Those issues were on display against Nebraska-Omaha when the Mavericks scored their first ever Big Ten victory in defeating the Hawkeyes. In that game, Nebraska-Omaha beat Iowa by 8 on the glass and hit 47.9 percent of its shots from the floor to get a victory.
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Iowa State doesn’t have the size it did last year in order to take advantage of Iowa’s rebounding issues and although this may look like a mismatch on paper, Iowa should be able to get the cover. The Hawkeyes aren’t as bad as their record indicates and games in this series are usually close. Check the odds at BookMaker.eu before placing a wager, but Iowa is the right side if the Hawkeyes are an underdog.
College Basketball Odds: Iowa 78, Iowa State 76
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