No. 8 Kansas will continue its brutal stretch in Big 12 play when it travels to No. 13 Iowa State on Saturday afternoon. The Jayhawks have faced ranked teams in five of their last six games, including a 62-60 win against Iowa State on Jan. 14. The Cyclones are on a two-game losing streak and are coming off an 80-77 loss to Texas Tech in overtime on Monday.
Kansas raced out to a terrific start this season, winning 16 of its first 17 games after winning the national title last year. The Jayhawks proceeded to lose three straight games in mid-January, falling to Kansas State, TCU and Baylor. They have been able to get back on track since then, which began with a 77-68 win at Kentucky during the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, as they avoided their first four-game losing streak since the 1980s. Kansas added a 90-78 win against No. 7 Kansas State on Tuesday, getting revenge for its overtime loss from several weeks prior. Star wing Jalen Wilson scored 20 points, reaching that mark for the fifth straight game.
flash?? to April 7th, 2008 down three with 10.8 seconds left @mchalmers15 hits a three to lead the hawks into overtime.
the rest is history ??#RockChalk | @fnbo pic.twitter.com/6KKsofBVFt
— Kansas Men's Ba sketball (@KUHoops) February 3, 2023
Wilson got some help from his bench in that contest as well, as the bench scored 19 points, marking its best effort in a conference game this season. The Jayhawks’ bench has been notoriously quiet, ranked No. 343 of 363 Division I teams in minutes. They still rank No. 19 nationally in KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency ratings, though. This will be a tough matchup, as Iowa State leads the country in turnover rate and is No. 11 in overall defensive efficiency. Wilson leads Kansas with 21.3 points and 8.5 rebounds per game, while freshman Gradey Dick is adding 14.5 points.
No House Advantage: Bet on player over/unders VS THE HOUSE to 21x your bet OR play in PICK 'EM contests against other people! Click here to get a 1st deposit match up to $50 1st w/ promocode WandW!