Score Predictions for West Virginia at No. 6 Iowa State

We make our pick for Saturday's afternoon matchup between the Mountaineers and the Cyclones

Christopher Hall | Feb 24, 2024

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West Virginia Mountaineers

The West Virginia Mountaineers (9-17, 4-9) are on the road to take on the sixth-ranked Iowa State Cyclones (20-6, 9-4).

Schuyler Callihan: Iowa State 77, West Virginia 61.

The Mountaineers showed some good things earlier this week in the win over UCF, specifically on the offensive end where it felt like the ball didn't stick for once. The uptempo pace forced guys to make their read and pass or shoot without a bunch of dribbling.

The other good sign that came out of it was RaeQuan Battle putting together another 20-point plus performance, his third in a row. Once Battle gets hot, he tends to go on a streak and for West Virginia to have any chance today, they're going to need him to go over that 20 mark again.

Unfortunately for WVU, the Cyclones have one of the stingiest defenses in the Big 12 in addition to being home of arguably the toughest environment to play in. I could see this one getting away from West Virginia early.

Christopher Hall: Iowa State 86, West Virginia 73.

West Virginia is winless on the road this season and has lost seven of the ten games away from the WVU Coliseum by double digits, including five of the six Big 12 road games, and lost by 36 and 24 to Texas and TCU, respectively, in the previous two road contests.

Meanwhile, Iowa State has yet to lose at home and has notched wins over Houston and Kansas, although Houston avenged the earlier season loss on Monday.

This is a tough Cyclones squad and West Virginia has not shown they can play through or stop a physical defensive team.

Iowa State guard Keshon Gilbert is averaging a team-high 14.3 points per game and has hit double figures in nine of the last 10 games. He is also averaging 4.2 assists per game while his counterpart Tamin Lipsey averages a team-best 5.4 apg and is second on the team in scoring at 12.8 ppg. The duo will give West Virginia guards fits.

The Cyclones will attack the rim and they will likely get center Jesse Edwards in foul trouble early, leaving the Mountaineers without an inside presence.

Iowa State will turn up the pressure on West Virginia guards, especially point Kerr Kriisa, and in consequently the offense will struggle, settling for one-on-one situations.

Cyclones cruise in this one, 86-73.