Arizona State vs Iowa State Prediction and Preview

Read more for a full Arizona State vs Iowa State prediction and preview.

After upsetting No. 23 West Virginia last Tuesday, the Sun Devils look to pull another Top 25 upset when the No. 3 Cyclones come to town on Saturday afternoon. It will be the fourth all-time meeting between the two sides. While Iowa State leads the all-time series 2-1, Arizona State won the only matchup in Tempe 87-69 on Dec. 2, 1977.

General Information:

Teams: Arizona State (11-7, 2-5 Big 12) and No. 3 Iowa State (16-2, 6-1 Big 12)

Tip Time: 2 p.m. EST

Watch: ESPN+

Listen: Arizona Sports 98.7 FM (KMVP)

Latest on Iowa State basketball:

The Cyclones have lived up to expectations as one of the Big 12’s best teams this season. They are currently 6-1 in the conference, which is tied for second with Arizona.

Saturday’s visitors faced a rare roadblock this past weekend with a 64-57 loss to the Mountaineers. But they rebounded with a 108-83 win over UCF. The 108 points were the most scored by the team under head coach T.J. Otzelberger.

Three of Otzelberger’s starters reached double figures in Tuesday night’s barnburner. Junior forward Joshua Jefferson led the way with a career-high 30 points and senior guard Keshon Gilbert followed with 21 points. The team’s leading scorer, senior guard Curtis Jones, had 19 points in his third consecutive start after 14 games where he came off the bench.

Jones replaces sophomore forward Milan Momcilovic, who averaged 10.3 points per game, and has not started since Jan. 11 against Texas Tech. Junior guard Tamin Lipsey averages 10.1 points per game.

Counting the exhibition against No. 2 Duke, Iowa State is right now not the best competition Arizona State has faced this season. But the Cyclones are projected to get a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history according to CBB Review’s most recent prediction.

Latest on Arizona State basketball:

Arizona State is fresh off snapping a four-game losing streak with a 65-57 win over West Virginia. It picked up its second Quad 1 win of the season–the first since Nov. 29 against Saint Mary’s–and its first true road win of the campaign.

It was also historical for a couple of freshman Sun Devils. Forward Jayden Quaintance, who leads the Big 12 in blocks, had his 56th rejection since joining the Maroon and Gold. That broke the Arizona State single-season record for blocks by a freshman, once held by Mario Bennett in the 1991-92 campaign. He is now 13 blocks away from the Big 12 record for most blocks by a freshman. The five-star recruit also scored 15 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for his 6th double-double in his collegiate career.

Tuesday night also saw the debut of combo guard Trevor Best, a teammate of Quaintance’s from their time at Word of God Christian Academy in Raleigh, NC. He was on the court for three minutes.

The Maroon and Gold defended well against the Mountaineer offense, specifically against the Big 12’s leading scorer in Javon Small. However, the junior guard, who played at AZ Compass high school, was held to 14 points. This included going 2-for-11 from the field and 0-for-8 from beyond the arc.

“Just try to make things as difficult as possible,” Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley told reporters after the game about his players guarding Small. “We were trying to show bodies in driving lanes, guys stabbing at the ball just so he couldn’t get any clean drives to the basket.”

Hurley told reporters on Friday afternoon that Joson Sanon will return to the hardwood after missing the last three game due to injury. Sanon, who led the team in points during non-conference play, has only featured twice against Big 12 opponents this season.

Arizona State vs Iowa State prediction: Cyclones by 11 (79-68)

It is a special sight to see a Top 5 team come to the Valley, with the last occurrence coming on Jan. 19, 2023 with a 74-62 loss to then-No. 5 UCLA. Coming off some cagey matchups in the Eastern time zone, the Sun Devils should limit the Cyclone offense but will struggle on the offensive end themselves.