Iowa State expert previews the Arizona men’s basketball game, makes a score prediction

Going into this weekend, Iowa State was one of three teams that still had a shot to catch Arizona for the Big 12 title. But then the Cyclones lost at home to Texas Tech, eliminating them from the race and taking a little of the shine off their meeting on Big Monday.

It’s still a big game, one that could give the Wildcats their first Big 12 regular season championship. It also will provide ESPN plenty of chances to show Caleb Love’s miracle shot from their game last season at McKale Center.

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To better understand this year’s Iowa State team, we reached out to Jared Larson of SB Nation sister site Wide Right & Natty Lite for some insight and a score prediction. Below are his verified answers to our suspect questions:

AZ Desert Swarm: What went wrong against Texas Tech, and are any of those things repeated problems?

Jared Larson: “It was one of those days where the shots went down for the visiting Red Raiders and not for the Cyclones. It’s hard to win games when opponents connect on 14 3-point baskets and outrebound by six, equally hard when a visiting team can use up almost all of the shot clock, only to make a basket as they did eight of nine times on Saturday. Killyan Toure not scoring in any of his seven attempts from the field is also concerning. “They made choices tonight to leave (him) unguarded,” Iowa State coach TJ Otzelberger said. “It’s something for us that we need to solve. Tonight was the night it was really exposed.”

The Cyclones have the top-ranked player in the Big 12 (per KenPom) in 6-foot-9 senior forward Joshua Jefferson. What has made him so effective this season and how do you think Arizona will defend him?

“Jefferson is elite in filling the box score, as he did against Texas Tech with 22 points, five rebounds, five assists and five steals. He can catch passes in the paint, he can hoist and make 3-point baskets (2 for 4 against Texas Tech, with the two makes coming at an average of 25.5 feet). I believe he’s been the…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/iowa-state-expert-previews-arizona-120000479.html

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Publish date : 2026-03-01 12:00:00

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