Iowa State Men’s Basketball: Oklahoma Sooners Preview

Feb 2, 2013; Ames IA, USA; Iowa State Cyclones forward Georges Niang (31) defends the basketball against Baylor Bears center Isaiah Austin (21) in the second half at Hilton Coliseum. Iowa State beat Baylor 79-71. Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-USA TODAY Sports

Oklahoma Sooners vs. Iowa State Cyclones

Hilton Coliseum | Ames, IA
6:00 PM CT | ESPNU

In a Saturday full of Big 12 upsets, Oklahoma couldn’t build on a big road victory at Baylor and fell to the top-25 ranked Kansas State Wildcats. Monday will provide another chance for the Sooners to make up for it, hoping that Iowa State is a little winded coming off of short rest against a high-octane victory against the Bears.

Will Clyburn, who grabbed the Big 12 Rookie of the Week award for the second consecutive week, has had three double-doubles in his last four games and is averaging 26 points and 10 rebounds in his last two games in Ames. He’s becoming an absolute force in Big 12 play that’s helped keep the team ranked in the top 15 nationally in points and rebounds per game.

Korie Lucious has also improved his game and assist-to-turnover ratio drastically with 20 assists to just seven turnovers in the past three games, including just one turnover in the last outing against Baylor.

Romero Osby led the Sooners with 13 points and seven rebounds in a low-scoring 52-50 defeat in Norman against the Wildcats. He averages both team highs in the same category, giving Iowa State their biggest threat inside the paint.

Oklahoma doesn’t really impress and isn’t ranked really high in any categories, but they’re a well-rounded team that doesn’t have many weaknesses outside of potentially scoring with the Cyclones. One of the keys for ISU will be to control rebounding, and hopefully Melvin Ejim will be more of a factor in this game to help. Against Baylor, Ejim saw the bench most of the way dealing with foul trouble.

Prediction

Iowa State should be able to win their 20th straight home game and keep the streak alive. Oklahoma defends the 3-point shot relatively well and Baylor held them well under their average, but as long as the Cyclones control the boards and contains Osby, they should get their sixth conference win of the season.

Cyclones 71, Sooners 63

Brian Spaen is the lead editor of Clones Confidential. Get more Cyclones coverage by following us on Twitter.