How and what to watch for Iowa State vs. Oklahoma State

The Oklahoma State Cowboys will look to avoid a bad loss when they host the Iowa State Cyclones on Tuesday, February 16th. This is one of those situations where nobody would be impressed with a win, but a loss would lead to ridicule. Sometimes those are the most dangerous games.

Oklahoma State (13-6, 6-6 Big 12) comes in with the seventh-best record in the conference and won two of their last three games including a home win over the Kansas State Wildcats 67-60 on Saturday, but fell out of the AP poll yesterday anyway. It never felt like the Cowboys had much of a chance of losing after jumping out to a big lead with Cade Cunningham putting up 15 points for the Cowboys. Second leading scorer Isaac Likekele was held out of the game with a foot injury, and we’ll see if he suits up on Tuesday. Oklahoma State’s strength is on defense where they rank 21st in adjusted defensive efficiency.

Iowa State (2-14, 0-11 Big 12) has obviously had a rough go of it in the 2020-21 college basketball season. The Cyclones haven’t left the court with a victory since December 20th against Jackson State. In the last time out, Iowa State lost to the Kansas Jayhawks 64-50 at home on Saturday with Jalen Coleman-Lands leading the way with 20 points. It would take a huge effort from the Cyclones to keep this one close down the stretch of this game.

Game Time/TV Channel/Streaming

You can watch Iowa State vs. Oklahoma State on Tuesday, February 16th at 4:00 p.m. ET on ESPN+, a subscription service available as an add-on from ESPN even for non-subscribers.

Point Spread, Totals, Odds, Trends

Point spread: Oklahoma State -11.5
Point Total: 144.5
Money line: Iowa State +540, Oklahoma State -835

• The total went over in five of Iowa State’s last six games, and the over hit in each of their last five road games.
• The under hit in five of the last seven matchups between these two teams.
• Oklahoma State is 12-3 straight up in their last 15 home games.

The Best Bet

This one is tough as it’s a trap game for the Cowboys ahead of their game against No. 2 Baylor on Saturday, but they should be able to do enough at home to cover. We don’t love it, but if forced to choose we’ll take Cade Cunningham at home, as he needs to start boosting his NBA Draft stock immediately or else he’ll be in Stillwater another year.

Pick: Oklahoma State -11.5

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