KU Predictions: Iowa State

The game coming up against the Iowa State Cyclones looks to be the toughest one that KU has seen to date (not including Kentucky of course), and the difficulty in picking that game is reflected in the near split down the middle that we have in our predictions this week.

PenHawk: Hilton is going to be rocking Saturday night. Between Gameday's presence and the 8:00 tipoff, the fans are going to be rabid in Ames. This look like pretty even teams, so my guess is this comes down to the biggest wildcard: three point shooting. If ISU has an awful shooting night, I think we can go home with a win. If it happens to us, I don't see how we pull it off. My guess is ISU comes out on fire, and we can't quite keep up on the scoreboard. Iowa State 75, Kansas 68

Fizzle406: Gameday, coming off a road loss and playing Kansas, the roof might blow off of hilton on Saturday. ISU leads the entire game and despite a good run or two, Kansas never catches up. Iowa State 64, Kansas 53

KU Grad 08: Hilton doesn't scare us. We've won there consistently since Bill Self got to town, even over some pretty good ISU teams. The Cyclones don't have bigs that scare me, and Niang is prone to some completely horrible shooting nights. I think Perry Ellis finally gets some offense going, Cliff Alexander and Jamari Traylor get a good amount of points off offensive rebounds, Kansas hits some threes and we pull it off. Kansas 75, Iowa State 71.

dnoll5: For some reason I'm picking Kansas. I've seen enough toughness from this team over the course of the season to believe that Hilton "Magic" won't affect them. KU has done a better job (it seems) of late of defending the perimeter, and if ISU isn't hitting from deep, they probably won't win. Guarding Georges Niang might be difficult, but Jamari and Perry are both mobile and should be able to follow him around. That being said, others will have to score (they've done a nice job of doing that while Ellis has been slumping) and will have to stay focused for the entire 40 minutes of more. Kansas 77, ISU 76.

Jim Hammen: Kansas has gone into Ames and nabbed some impressive victories over the last few years, including a game or two when you could make the case that Iowa St. was the better team, or deserved to win, at the very least. I don't think that trend continues this year. KU has been living and dying by the 3-ball for a couple weeks now, and I think a poor-shooting night, combined with a hot night by the Cyclones (as well as a juiced-up Hilton crowd), adds up to an Iowa St. victory. Iowa St. 77, Kansas 69.

mikeville: There are so many reasons to pick Iowa State in this game, and most have already been mentioned. College Gameday, KU, the crowd, etc. One thing that hasn't been mentioned is ISU is coming off a loss (to Baylor in Waco). Were they looking ahead to tomorrow night? Will they be "too pumped" up? I don't know the answer to those questions. My head tells me to pick Iowa State by single digits, but I just can't do it. Bill Self knows - and therefore the Jayhawks know - that they'll be getting ISU's best shot. I think KU will be prepared. Prepared, that is, for lots of booing (and hopefully more tears) - Kansas 74, ISU 70.

jvaughn11: I have been fearing this game for most of the season but have an eerie calm going into tomorrow. We match up well and the two teams are equally skilled. I don't think we shoot well as a team, but Perry plays well and the usual contributors do their thing. The defense continues to improve and we win the rebound battle. KU wins in a game slightly less competitive than the score indicates. KU 76 - ISU 72

misterbrain: Well PenHawk stole my comments, so I'll have to come up with some new ones. Essentially, Kansas is not going to run the table in the conference this year. Iowa State is probably the best team with the best homecourt advantage that is not named Kansas, so it's only natural to think that a loss here is the most likely one. Ultimately, Iowa State has a much better chance of going off from 3 than we do inside Hilton Coliseum, and we don't have the dominant inside game that usually saves us in these situations. Iowa State 74, Kansas 68