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Pregame Primer – Iowa St.

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Teams: Oklahoma State (13-4, 1-2) vs. Iowa St. (14-4, 1-2)

Location: Gallagher-Iba Arena – Stillwater, OK
TV: ESPNU
Internet: ESPN3
Time: 8:00 CST

AP Rankings: Oklahoma State – N/A, Iowa St. – N/A
RPI: Oklahoma State – #42, Iowa St. – #84
Line: Oklahoma State -5
Behind enemy lines: Clone Chronicles

Homework:
Iowa State must have had Florida’s director of football operations build their non-conference basketball schedule this year (not that I, as an Oklahoma State advocate, have anything to boast about). The Cyclones’ non-conference minefield included wins over Chicago State, Dartmouth, and mighty Kennesaw State while they saw losses to Cal and Northern Iowa (yes, that Farokhmanesh). They shoot a ton, which is to be expected considering The Mayor Hoiberg is running the show up in Ames. In many ways they’re exactly the opposite of OSU.

Iowa State ranks 20th in the country taking 23 three-pointers a game while Oklahoma State ranks 316th taking only 14 a game. To put that in some sort of perspective, the Cyclones have three guys who have already taken a hundered threes, and, excluding Keiton, OSU’s entire roster has only taken 161. On the flip side though Iowa State’s only real inside threat is 6’11” Senior, Jamie Vanderbeken. Marshall and Pilgrim should have a field day inside the paint considering the Morris bros. just got done pasting a combined 50-24 line at Hilton.

Of course Pilgrim and Moses are about as likely to show up in the same game as Eddie is to win a game of MidFirst musical chairs basketball at halftime, so who knows.

It’s an odd Iowa State team too. They boast only four total Sophomores and Juniors on their roster so nobody really knows if they’re an up-and-coming team that lacks experience or an old, haggard team gunning for its 5th straight losing season. Back-to-back losses against Nebraska and KU did nothing to dispel that notion but they got back on track against Baylor on Saturday (which everyone seems to be capable of these days) for their first Big 12 win.

What I’m worried about:
See above, shooters are hard to stop if they get hot. Despite the quantity of bombs, Iowa St. actually has one guy, Scott Christopherson, who’s at 50% (54-108) on the year. And he looks like Will Whittington, or as most of you know him — the idiot from Marist who pillaged Gallagher-Iba for 31 in the NIT that one year.

OSU is in the business of controlling games (as evidenced by their 53 shots/game) while Iowa St. is in the business of shooting teams out of them (61 shots/game). Rocks and hard places and such, I just hope having home court is enough.

Two random stats that (probably) only interest me:
Iowa St. lays claim to two guys with last names longer than 11 letters: Scott Christopherson and Jamie Vanderbeken. It’s not like they’re touching Dikembe Mutombo’s real name — Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo — or anything, but still, kind of odd.

JPO is 27th in the country (and 2nd in the Big 12 behind Alec Burks) in fouls drawn per 40 minutes at 7.2.

Video to get you ready:
Even though he’s crazy-hood and nobody not named Stephen Jackson really associates with him, this Jamaal Tinsley (Iowa St. alum!) video is pretty cool.

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