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No. 13 ISU visits No. 25 Baylor Tuesday
By: Brian Graham - StatFox
Published: 2/16/2016  at  1:21:00 PM
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IOWA STATE CYCLONES (18-7, 7-5 Big 12)

at BAYLOR BEARS (17-7, 7-5 Big 12)

Ferrell Center - Waco, TX
Tip-off: Tuesday, 9:00 p.m. ET
Line: Baylor -3, Total: 158

A key Big 12 clash takes place on Tuesday night when No. 13 Iowa State visits No. 25 Baylor.

The Cyclones (12-9-1 ATS) have scuffled lately with three losses in their past five games, but they are a respectable 4-4 SU (5-3 ATS) on the road this season. The Bears (6-12-1 ATS) are also in a funk with Saturday's head-scratching, 84-66 home loss to Texas Tech, which gives them a 1-3 SU record in February and a 1-6-1 ATS mark in their past eight contests. But they are usually tough to beat at home this season where they are 14-3 SU (3-8 ATS) outscore visitors by 16.1 PPG. Baylor has had the upper hand in this series with three straight wins (2-1 ATS) including a 94-89 thriller as a 6.5-point underdog on Jan. 9 in Ames. Although Iowa State is just 2-9 SU in its past 11 trips to Waco, it has a nearly even 5-6 ATS record during these visits. Nearly all of the betting trends for Tuesday side with the Cyclones, who are 46-24 ATS revenging a same-season loss versus an opponent since 1997, and in this same timeframe, college basketball road teams revenging a loss where the opponent scored 75+ points against an opponent off an upset loss as a home favorite are 67-34 ATS (66%) where the line is +3 to -3. The Bears are just 4-9-1 ATS as a favorite this season, but they are also a near-perfect 5-1 SU (3-1-1 ATS) when following an SU loss. There are no new injuries of concern for either team in this matchup.

Who will pick up the big conference win on Tuesday night? For the answer, connect to The Platinum Sheet for all the StatFox Experts Best Bets throughout the season. The experts continue to flourish with a huge 66% ATS record (63-33-4) in the past four weeks, led by StatFox Dave at 74% ATS (14-5-1) and StatFox Zach going 68% ATS (13-6-1) over this timeframe. StatFox Brian has been on fire for two months, with a stellar 66% ATS record (29-15-1) in the past nine weeks. StatFox Gary is also sizzling, going 68% ATS (23-11-1) over the past seven weeks, and StatFox Scott is a strong 58% ATS (19-14-2) in this same timeframe.

Iowa State is also an explosive offensive squad with 82.3 PPG (18th in nation) on a blistering 50.2% FG (3rd in D-I) and 37.8% threes (45th in nation). This is an average foul-shooting team at 68.8% FT (210th in D-I) that rarely gets to the line with a mere 397 free-throw attempts (338th in nation). However, the team has a strong 1.43 Ast/TO ratio (27th in D-I) because it usually makes the extra pass (16.2 APG, 32nd in nation) and rarely turns the ball over (11.4 TOPG, 47th in D-I). Iowa State does not have a very tough defense, allowing 73.8 PPG (228th in nation) on 43.3% FG (168th in D-I) and 34.4% threes (176th in nation), but it stays out of foul trouble with the fewest amount of personal fouls in D-I (15.0 per game). Although the team is strong on the defensive glass (27.5 Def. RPG, 51st in nation), it grabs only 9.3 offensive RPG (288th in D-I). Two upperclassmen carry this program, senior F Georges Niang (19.2 PPG, 2nd in Big 12) and junior PG Monte Morris, whose stellar 5.2 Ast/TO ratio leads the nation. The burly 6-foot-8 Niang rarely takes a bad shot, as evidenced by his 52% FG, 39% threes and 83% FT this season. He also grabs 6.4 RPG and dishes out 3.2 APG, and has a current streak of 34 straight double-figure scoring games dating to last season. This includes four straight contests of 18+ points where he's averaging 22.0 PPG, and also on Jan. 9 when he lit up Baylor for 22 points, six rebounds and a season-high eight assists. Morris had similar numbers (21 points, five rebounds, six assists) in that loss to the Bears, and is coming off a season-high 24 points (9-of-13 FG) in Saturday's win over Texas. Senior F/C Jameel McKay (12.2 PPG, 9.0 RPG) has five double-doubles this season and played well in his return to the court Saturday with eight points, seven rebounds and four blocks in 22 minutes of action. He was suspended for the previous two games due to a violation of team rules. McKay had 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists in last month's loss to Baylor. Junior G Matt Thomas (10.3 PPG, 5.0 RPG) is the school's best long-range shooter, as he is making 44% of his threes. Thomas has averaged 11.3 PPG in his past four contests, including a 13-point effort (4-of-5 FG) in Saturday's win. But Thomas struggled with his shot against the Bears on Jan. 9 when he made only 3-of-10 FG (2-of-9 threes) before fouling out. Senior F Abdel Nader (12.4 PPG, 5.3 RPG) has been up-and-down offensively with scoring outputs of 20, 8, 17, 7, 19, 0, 19 and 6 points over his past eight games, but put forth a brilliant performance versus Baylor last month with 20 points (7-of-12 FG), eight rebounds and four assists.

Baylor's offense is also difficult to contain with 78.1 PPG (66th in D-I) on 46.8% FG (52nd in nation) and 36.7% threes (86th in D-I). These numbers jump to 79.3 PPG on 48% FG and 39% threes at the Ferrell Center. The Bears are an elite passing team with 19.2 APG (2nd in nation behind only Michigan State) and commit 12.6 TOPG for a stellar 1.52 Ast/TO ratio (13th in D-I). They are also a top-notch rebounding team at +8.6 RPG (13th in nation), which includes a hefty 13.9 offensive RPG (15th in D-I). Defensively, Baylor is very active with 8.4 steals per game (16th in nation) and 3.9 blocks per game (114th in D-I), but the team still allows 68.8 PPG (105th in nation) on a subpar 44.3% FG (228th in D-I) and 36.5% threes (284th nation). Muscular senior F Rico Gathers (12.4 PPG) leads the Big 12 in both total rebounds (10.2 RPG) and offensive rebounds (4.5 RPG, 3rd in nation), while shooting 53% from the floor. An illness forced him to miss Wednesday's game versus Kansas State and he didn't play very well in Saturday's loss with seven points (2-of-7 FG) and nine rebounds. Gathers was also a non-factor versus Iowa State last month with four points and five rebounds in just 15 minutes of action. Baylor's leading scorer is G Taurean Prince (15.1 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 1.4 SPG), who has scored at least 10 points in eight straight games, including 35 points on 13-of-19 shooting (5-of-6 threes) over the past two contests. Prince was a huge reason his team outlasted the Cyclones on Jan. 9, as he scored 18 points with 10 rebounds and four assists. Senior PG Lester Medford (9.4 PPG, 7.0 APG, 1.9 SPG) is the engine of this offense with a stellar 3.4 Ast/TO ratio (12th in nation) and his last double-double came against Iowa State when he produced 16 points (4-of-5 threes) and 11 assists in that victory. Sophomore G Al Freeman (11.7 PPG, 3.4 RPG) made only 1-of-7 FG against ISU, but has put up 27 points on 9-of-13 FG (3-of-3 threes) with 11 rebounds in his past two contests. Sophomore F Johnathan Motley (10.4 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 1.1 BPG) provides instant offense with double-figure scoring only 19.3 MPG, and he scored 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting in just 13 minutes on Saturday.


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