The Oklahoma Sooners could be the No. 1 team in the nation when they head out to Hilton Coliseum on Monday night to take on the Iowa State Cyclones.
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HOW THE OKLAHOMA SOONERS CAN COVER THE SPREAD
It's so darn hard to play on the road, especially in conference play, and double especially when you're a Top 5 team in the land like the Sooners are. They were nearly beaten at lowly Hawaii, played a three-overtime thriller in a loss to Kansas and survived Bedlam on Wednesday at Oklahoma State by a bucket.
There's a good chance Oklahoma is going to be a dog in this game, and the key to staying inside the number is going to be those clutch shots. The difference between this year's team and other recent iterations is the fact that it feels like Jordan Woodard, Isaiah Cousins and Buddy Hield are hitting a tremendous percentage of their really big, clutch shots.
Let's not forget that Hield shot right around 42 percent for his career this year, so it shouldn't be surprising now that he's shooting 52.4 percent, he's averaging 26.6 points per game and has a real chance to lead the nation in scoring this year.
Of course, Hield has averaged 31.0 points per game in his last six, and he's played an average of over 40 minutes per game in that span, but the team is still just 1-5 ATS in those games. Clearly, it's going to take more than just Hield to win this one, especially against a team which loves to run up and down the court like Iowa State.
HOW THE IOWA STATE CYCLONES CAN COVER THE SPREAD
Somewhere along the way, the Cyclones are going to have to play some defense if they want to ultimately make it to the Final Four. They've got the talent to do so with Georges Niang, Jameel McKay, Abdel Nader and Monte Morris, but what we're finding is that they're just too darn run out of gas to play defense, particularly in the second halves of games.
Oklahoma is going to get into the 80s in this game in all likelihood, but there still has to be a degree of defense being played. Allowing teams to shoot 43.3 percent from the field and 35.6 percent from downtown this time of year before conference play gets into full swing is problematic.
Texas shot 48.6 percent against ISU in Austin earlier this week, while Baylor ripped off 52.3 percent from the field. That just doesn't cut it at this level, and if Oklahoma does the same thing, it's going to walk out of Ames with a victory.
ANALYSIS AND ODDS PREDICTION
Oklahoma showed us a lot in that loss at Kansas. The three-overtime thriller was a game which legitimately could've gone either way, and just that fact alone is a testament to how far this team has come in recent years.
This is a game which the Sooners really deserve, and they're going to get it. Iowa State is only seven men deep, and that's a recipe for a disaster in a game like this one against a team which is willing to fly up and down the court as well.
The total really can't be high enough in this one in all likelihood, but in the end, the Sooners are the far better play, and they'll pull away late.
Oklahoma 96, Iowa State 84
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