Kansas Will Get Revenge Over Cyclones Tonight
Iowa State vs. Kansas, 9:00 ET
Iowa State vs. Kansas, 9:00 ET
I was going to start this by saying we had a historic day on Saturday, but we didn't. It was a good day, but it wasn't much better than some of the tournament days we've had in the past. Still, winning all three games and not really sweating in any of them makes for a pretty happy bettor. This has been a really good college basketball year for me and we still have a full month before the NCAA Tournament starts for us to build up the bank roll. Tonight we take on the game between Iowa State and the Kansas Jayhawks.
This has been a bit of a tumultuous time for the Iowa State Cyclones. The team is 17-4 for the season, but three of those four losses have come in the past five games. They first dropped a game at West Virginia by seven points. Then they lost at Arizona a week ago today, falling in overtime by 11 points. I should mention this game specifically as I bet on them to win and they lost. The team was up three with very little time left on the clock. Arizona unbounded the ball and hit a shot from beyond half court to send the game into overtime. It was a brutal way for the team to end the game, and they lost all momentum, giving up a bunch of points in overtime resulting in the loss. Their next game was this past Saturday when they hosted Kansas State. Kansas State isn't a bad team, but they also aren't great. Losing to them by 19 on your home court is a pretty ugly look. The Cyclones really just couldn't get anything going, and now they have to travel to face a tough Kansas team. Iowa State has a lot of talent, and is a fairly deep team. There aren't many squads that can boast having five guys scoring in double figures. They are playing down right now, and I'm sure that contributes to a bit of their recent struggles with having Milan Momcilovic unavailable. They could use his big body tonight to help against the Kansas interior.

Jan 4, 2025; Ames, Iowa, USA; Iowa State Cyclones head coach T.J. Otzelberger and guard Tamin Lipsey (center) and forward Joshua Jefferson (left) against the Baylor Bears during the second half at James H. Hilton Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images
Kansas has put together a decent enough year, but their record isn't all that impressive at just 15-6. They haven't played great over the past six games, splitting them with wins and losses, but I also don't think they've played terribly either. Saturday, they lost at Baylor, and although Baylor isn't ranked, they still were the home team and were highly rated coming into the season. They hosted Houston the previous Saturday and also dropped that game, losing at home in double overtime to one of the best teams in the country. The other loss in this span? Well, that would be against Iowa State, a team that beat Kansas by 17 points. This was a road game for Kansas, and those always seem to cause problems for the traveling college team. Kansas hasn't had too many impressive wins this season, but they did beat Duke on a neutral court early in the year. The team might have a decent edge tonight with being at home and their interior height. Hunter Dickinson is not the best center in the country, but he does have talent and can still lead this team in scoring.
This should be a good game between two teams that are struggling at the moment. If you read my article about Tennessee and Florida the other day, you'll know that I like to pick the zig-zag and the team who was blown out in the last meeting to win. This is a similar concept with Iowa State having performed really well against Kansas when hosting them. Now it is Kansas's turn to beat Iowa State on Kansas's home turf. I'll back the Jayhawks here on the moneyline at -135/140.
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