There are few things sweeter than beating Kansas basketball. Especially, beating them by 17 points, sans a starter who shoots 44% from 3. The Cyclones kept the Jayhawks an arms’ length away throughout before pulling away late in the second half with the help of a Brandt Chatfield alley-oop and Curtis Jones scoring a 3 point shot from the 712 area code.

Speaking of the best 6th... 5th man in the country; Jones led all scorers with 25 points, 20 of them coming in a red hot first half. The Cyclones made 18-25 free throws, while Kansas went 4-11. Fun fact for the water cooler, Kansas shoots less free throws than any team in the country. One of many reasons this Jayhawks team seems a bit out of sorts a quarter way through conference play.

Iowa State extended their home winning streak to 28 games, Houston leads the country with 30 straight wins at home.

Darian DeVries has done an outstanding job in year 1 at Morgantown. They picked up huge non-conference wins against Gonzaga and Arizona (I still don’t understand how two Big 12 teams can play a non-conference game, but I digress) but the Mountaineers most impressive win is their first ever victory at Phog Allen Fieldhouse on New Year’s Eve.

West Virginia has an incredible defense. They rank top 25 in overall defensive rating, 2-pt% and 3-pt% defense. West Virginia is coming off a 16-point loss at Houston, which has them at 3-2 in Big 12 play. Their other Big 12 loss is Arizona... who they’ve already beat. I- it’s confusing.

Tucker DeVries hasn’t played since December 6th, and the Mountaineers are 6-2 since. A big reason for that? Javon Small. Small has played his way into First Team All-Big 12 talks averaging 19.4 points, 5 boards and 5 assists a game.

Small was on an abysmally bad Oklahoma State team last year, but a new coach and change of scenery has done wonders for the junior guard. I’m guessing he’ll see a good mix of Keshon Gilbert, Tamin Lipsey and Nate Heise throughout the game to try to disrupt his offensive output.

Couple of things are going against the Cyclones. Even tough Iowa State looked mostly fine without Milan against Kansas, that’s one less weapon for teams to prepare for. It’s also Jerry West day? Because why the hell not?

And maybe most importantly, Dustin Hogue was on the court the last time the Cyclones won in Morgantown, that was 10 years ago. If I made you feel old, I’m sorry, but losing at West Virginia is getting old too. I think this game will be just as tough as Texas Tech.

Iowa State- 72

West Virginia- 71

West Virginia 12-4, 3-2 Big 12) v. #2 Iowa State (15-1, 5-0 Big 12)

WVU Coliseum, Morgantown, WV

Saturday, January 18th 4:00pm

ISU -6.5 | O/U 136.5

ESPN+, sadly

Cyclone Radio Network/Varsity Radio App Talent: John Walters (PxP), Eric Heft (Analyst)

Cyclonestats.com