For their second straight game, the Iowa State Cyclones will face the Arizona State Sun Devils. The Cyclones beat the Sun Devils 86-65 on March 7, and now the two teams will meet again in the second round of the Big 12 tournament. Arizona State beat the Baylor Bears in the first round of the Big 12 tournament 83-79. The winner of this game will face the No. 4 seed, Texas Tech, in the following round of the tournament.
On DraftKings Sportsbook, Iowa State is a -10.5-point favorite while the game’s over/under is set at 147.5 points. Below, I break down my best bet for today’s Arizona State-Iowa State matchup.
Arizona State vs. Iowa State (12:30 p.m. ET)
Iowa State has struggled recently, going 4-4 in its past eight games. After losing back-to-back games to Texas Tech and Arizona, the Cyclones finished the regular season with a big 21-point victory over ASU. A big reason for their inconsistency has been their lack of offensive production. Before their recent win, Iowa State scored 57, 73, 75, 69, 70, 74, and 55 points. When facing elite competition, that level of production is not good enough to keep up with top-level offenses.
As a team, Iowa State averages 81.8 points, with Milan Momcilovic (17 PPG) and Joshua Jefferson (16.6 PPG) as its top two scorers. Although Momcilovic has been terrific at times this season, he has been inefficient recently. Momcilovic has three outings of eight or fewer points in his last six contests.
Arizona State is 3-1 in its past four contests, but when facing top competition, like Iowa State, it has come up short. Maurice Odum, Massamba Diop, and Anthony Johnson are ASU’s top three scorers this season. Iowa State’s top trio of Momcilovic, Jefferson, and Lipsey is the difference in this contest and gives them the edge. Three of Iowa State’s previous four victories have come by at least 11 points. Although Iowa State has come up short against the conference’s elite teams, ASU simply isn’t on their level, as they showed a few days ago.
