The Kansas Jayhawks have won 21-straight conference openers, but the Iowa State Cyclones are a dangerous club to welcome into Allen Fieldhouse Wednesday night.
Let’s take a closer look
at this Big 12 Conference matchup from a betting perspective.
70
Iowa State has won four games in a
row, including an 80-70 victory over the Yale Bulldogs as 18.5-point home favorites,
while going OVER the total for the fourth time in as many opportunities during
the 2012-13 NCAA basketball season. The Cyclones are the only team nationally
to score 70 or more points in every game, which can’t be ignored when making
your college basketball picks against the spread Wednesday.
Rolling into conference play
Kansas is clearly one of the best
teams in the nation, as it comes off a 69-62 win over the Temple Owls (as
12.5-point home favorites). The game went UNDER the total for the first time in
five contests. The Jayhawks are outscoring opponents by 18.5 points per
game, which leads the Big 12 Conference in that category. It’s still important
to note that the program is just 6-6 against the spread (ATS) this year.
Rebounding the basketball
The Cyclones have managed to win the
battle of the boards in 12 of their 13 games, which includes going toe-to-toe
with the likes of the Cincinnati Bearcats and UNLV Runnin’ Rebels. Without a
doubt—this is one of the more important factors to handicap in this game when
looking over the NCAA basketball odds page. Kansas can bang with the best of
them underneath, out-rebounding its opponents by a 37.4-to-29.5 margin.
Home-court advantage
Sports bettors will have no problem
getting behind the Jayhawks as one of their choices on a parlay, considering
they’ve won 30 consecutive home games, which is the nation’s second-longest
active streak of its kind. Kansas has compiled a remarkable 151-2 straight-up
record when playing as a home favorite of 12.5 or more points since 1997, but
has gone just 73-77 ATS in that situation.
Something about Hoiberg
Fred Hoiberg is now in his third
year in coaching his alma mater, as the program continues to rise in the Big 12
Conference. The Cyclones are a disappointing 2-14 versus ranked opponents
during his time on the sidelines, but they did manage to snap a 13-game losing
streak in this series with a 72-64 victory as seven-point home underdogs last
year.
Prediction
I’m going to recommend that readers
back the Cyclones in this spot, as the underdog has covered four of the last
five meetings in this series. Iowa State is also 12-2 ATS in its last 14
opportunities as road underdogs of 12.5 to 15 points.
College Basketball Free Picks: Iowa State Cyclones +13 at 5Dimes