Iowa State @ Iowa (7:30 P.M.) - Tonight an annual battle is resumed again when the Cyclones invade Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City. Both teams enter the game with first year head coaches with Fred Hoiberg at Iowa State and Fran McCaffrey at Iowa.
The Hawkeyes come in with a 5-4 record but they are hot after back to back wins at home against Idaho State & Northern Iowa. The win against Northern Iowa was a low scoring affair, one in which the Panthers only scored 39 points.
Iowa State comes in with a somewhat surprising record of 7-2 after they got back in the W column with a 85-58 victory over SE Missouri State on Monday night. The Cyclones jumped out to a 6-0 record before stumbling against Northern Iowa on the road and against California in Ames.
Iowa only has two players who average double figures in points scored: Eric May & Bryce Cartwright at 13.0 and 10.2 ppg respectively. While they did score over 100 points once this year for the most part, they are not a team that is going to explode and outscore you. It will be important for Iowa State to play fundamental defense and make Iowa hit some outside shots.
Iowa State can only hope that Scott Christopherson keeps his magical shooting touch up all year. Through nine games he has hit 28-47 three pointers for a nice 59.6%. If he can continue to stroke it from deep and Iowa St. gets solid production from seniors Diante Garrett & Jake Anderson then the Cyclones should have a good chance to nab a road win.
While it may be tough to outright predict an Iowa State road win against any BCS level competition this is a game that the Cyclones can definitely win. Maybe Fred Hoiberg can instill in his team the meaning of the rivalry and have the Cyclones come out firing
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