Oklahoma Sooners-Iowa State Cyclones Preview
By Ross
Date: February 18th, 2012
Time: 12:45 PM CST
Where: Hilton Coliseum
TV: Big 12 Network
Spread: Iowa State (-7.5)
Know the Foe: When I previewed Oklahoma last time, I mentioned that Oklahoma was one of the surprise teams in the Big 12 this year. That statement isn’t true anymore. Lon Kruger’s Sooners are 3-10 in the Big 12 and have lost five in a row including an 18 point loss to Texas Tech. Safe to say, Sooner fans are looking forward to spring football.
Oklahoma’s leading scorer is still Steven Pledger. Since Iowa State played OU, Pledger has been averaging 14.7 points per game. Against the Cyclones earlier, Pledger only shot .357 percent from the field. Two guys that had a big game against Iowa State the first time around were Romero Osby and Andrew Fitzgerald.
One thing that Oklahoma really struggles at is defense. Oklahoma ranks last in the Big 12 in scoring defense.
Prediction: Last game against the Clones, Lon Kruger put a lot of pressure on Royce White. White was constantly double-teamed and only took one shot in the entire game. White still had a good game as he dished out 7 assists. Still, I’ll bet almost anything that Royce White ends the day with more than 3 points today.
Good news for the Cyclones, Bubu Palo returns to the lineup. Although the Oklahoma guard didn’t have a great game against ISU, Bubu Palo will improve ISU’s defense when he’s on the court.
Oklahoma outrebounded Iowa State by 10 in the first contest including 12 offensive rebounds. I also doubt that Oklahoma repeats that rebounding performance which cuts down on their second chance opportunities.
I like Iowa State again in this game. The Cyclones have won four straight home games and I will be extremely surprised if Oklahoma beats ISU at Hilton.
Oklahoma – 61
Iowa State – 73
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