Iowa State Cyclones at Kansas Jayhawks Predictions: Prepare for Ugly.
The Kansas Jayhawks find themselves in an unexpected battle of conference unbeatens as the Iowa State Cyclones come to Lawrence. Kansas stayed undefeated thanks to an epic comeback against a very game Oklahoma Sooners team, but now they will face a team in the Cyclones that won't look to outshoot them.
With the shooting issues that Kansas has had in the last few games, will they be able to return the favor to keep an improving Iowa State offense down? Or will the weird results continue as Kansas suffers their first conference loss to a team that can make the game so ugly that anything can happen? Take a look at what we think will happen, and then be sure to share your own thoughts on today's game.
Do you disagree with our assessment? Make sure you read them all and then hop over to the Discord or on Twitter to share your own thoughts.
Kyle Davis
Check out our Iowa State Preview for Kyle's full breakdown and prediction.
Derek Noll
Kansas against Iowa State is clearly going to be better than we thought at the start of the season. But my feeling is this: the Jayhawks will win not just because they’re better but because there will be legends of KU hoops from six or more decades in Allen Fieldhouse and there’s no way that crowd is gonna let the Jayhawks lose. I was there for the 100 years of hoops celebration and for the Wilt Chamberlain reunion and this promises to be a similar atmosphere.
Kansas 88, Iowa State 78.
Lucas Murphy
The Kansas Jayhawks will once again square off against another tough opponent the Iowa State Cyclones. This seems to be a revolving door as every opponent is trying to knock off the champs. Oklahoma gave it their all, but at one moment the Jayhawks flipped a switch and got it done. I would like to see Kansas come out and play more consistently with fewer turnovers and string more runs together. I am going to watch the bench players today and see who steps up in a big way whether it is Yesufu, Pettiford, Rice, or one of the bigs. One of these players needs a clutch game similar to Clemence against the Sooners.
Kansas 78, Iowa State 72.
Brendan Dzwierzynski
It goes without saying that Kansas needs a better offense performance on Saturday than it got on Tuesday, otherwise Iowa State will likely cruise. But, I don’t think asking “please don’t miss 21 shots at the rim” is all that tedious of a task, and I think the Jayhawks will take care of that. Hopefully, experience against a challenging defense earlier in the week was a good primer for the max-effort approach Iowa State takes. By the way, maybe this is the game where we see Jalen Wilson start to find a little more offensive efficiency. I hope so, anyway.
Kansas 75, Iowa State 70.
Andy Mitts
I hate when I'm right about how things can go badly. And this one really has me worried because of just how active this opponent is defensively. This will be the first time that Kansas will play a defense that can cause turnovers and affect the game as much as their own, and it will likely take some time for them to get used to it.
While I would definitely be a lot more worried about this game if it was up in Ames, I'm still worried. This is much more of a rivalry game than many Kansas fans want to admit, and these teams typically play like it. Don't expect this to be a game where players that are struggling get back on track, but do look for a guy like Dajuan Harris or Kevin McCullar to step up their defensive game. This will likely be a low-scoring, ugly game that we will all just want to forget about come next week, especially if Kansas isn't able to pull it out like I'm expecting.
Kansas 68, Iowa State 64.
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