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Arizona Vs Iowa St 🏀 Game Preview/Discussion Thread 3/1/25 7PM ESPN
The Arizona Wildcats and the Iowa State Cyclones meet Saturday in college basketball action from Hilton Coliseum.
The Wildcats have had a couple of spotty runs in the record column so far this year, but overall they're not doing too badly. Arizona kicked things off on a shaky 4-5 run though, taking losses to Wisconsin, Duke, Oklahoma, West Virginia and UCLA in that time. The Wildcats would only lose one of their next 14 games though (versus Texas Tech), taking out Samford, Central Michigan, TCU, Cincinnati, West Virginia, UCF, Baylor, Oklahoma State, Colorado, Iowa State, Arizona State, BYU and Texas Tech in that time. The next four games were an ugly 1-3 run, though. Arizona beat only Baylor in that time, losing otherwise versus Kansas State, Houston and BYU. That would give the Wildcats an 18-9 record across their first 27 games this year.
In their matchup versus Utah on Wednesday, the Wildcats were up 46-32 by halftime and cruised to the win in the end 83-66. Leading the team in scoring was Caleb Love with 23 points, seven assists and four rebounds. Tobe Awaka doubled up on 12 points with 10 rebounds in the victory as well.
Over on the Cyclones' side, they were looking great in late January but February was a completely different story. Iowa State hit a 17-2 run in their first 19 games, taking out MS Valley State, Kansas City, IUPUI, Dayton, Colorado, Marquette, Jackson State, Iowa, Omaha, Morgan State, Colorado, Baylor, Utah, Texas Tech, Kansas, UCF and Arizona State during that run. Since then however it's been a spotty 4-5 stretch for the Cyclones. The wins in that time were over TCU, UCF, Cincinnati and Colorado. The losses came courtesy of Arizona, Kansas State, Kansas, Houston and Oklahoma State. In total that gives Iowa State a 21-7 overall record across their first 28 games of the season.
In their latest outing on Tuesday versus Oklahoma State, the Cyclones were blitzed 40-26 in the first half. Iowa State recovered on a 42-34 second half run but fell short of the comeback 74-68. Leading the team in the losing effort was Joshua Jefferson with 17 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three steals. Nate Heise added 13 points with six boards and one steal, while Curtis Jones led the bench scoring on 11 points with four rebounds and two assists. Milan Momcilovic chipped in 10 points with two rebounds and two assists as well.
Why the Iowa State Cyclones will win
Iowa State has won each of its last 17 night games at James H. Hilton Coliseum.
Iowa State has won the first half in each of its last eight night games at James H. Hilton Coliseum.
Why the Arizona Wildcats will win
Arizona has won 19 of its last 21 games when playing with a rest disadvantage.
Arizona has won the first half in each of its last six games against AP-ranked opponents.
Total Points Facts
Each of Iowa State's last 10 night games against AP-ranked opponents have produced a total of 151 or fewer points.
Four of Arizona's last five games against Conference opponents have produced a total of 149 or fewer points..
Iowa St is favored at 5.5 points and the Over/Under is 152.5 points
Let's talk about the Wildcats Vs Cyclones
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I'm hyped for this game! IowaSt is hard to beat at Hilton, only lost one game there this season. Let's make it two! I'm sure they'll be at full strength and wanting to exact revenge. They've lost five of their last ten games, with their best win vs Cincy in that time span. I think we match up well and hoping we can once again take the wind outta the Cyclones.
Go Cats!
It'll definitely be a nasty atmosphere. Fun place to watch basketball. Unfortunately, my plans fell apart and I had to bail at the last second but I'm sure Arizona will be represented well.
It'll be Jon Sciambi & Fran Fraschilla on the call
Very heavy underdogs. I am sure we were not expected to play well vs them the first game. We needed the Miracle at McKale to get to OT, but this one is all, but expected a blowout right now. I am hoping that this team digs their toes in the sand and refuses to lose this one.
Quote from: arxpert on February 28, 2025, 10:52:21 PMVery heavy underdogs. I am sure we were not expected to play well vs them the first game. We needed the Miracle at McKale to get to OT, but this one is all, but expected a blowout right now. I am hoping that this team digs their toes in the sand and refuses to lose this one.
I don't necessarily think the 5.5 point spread is considered a blowout.AFAIK the home team gets 3 points out of the gate. And 5.5 points is 2.25 points per half, or one 3 pointer per half. So I foresee a very close game. Who wins? How the hell do I know, haha
https://x.com/Zona_Briggs/status/1895983653563613325?t=tZ5IlLC_pXydD4A9c-d51A&s=19
It's an early start to March Sadness this season...
Pitiful performance, one of the worst 6 performances under Tommy Lloyd this year alone.
Making 25-27 Free Throws (at the moment I type this) and losing by 15 is pathetic. Tommy is horrible at coaching. He can care less about defense in a league that limits possessions he wants to play for 2's and then have to take 2 shots to earn 2 points (free throws).
Tommy Coaches like this is the early 90s and 2pt shots are all that matters. 1 guy doesn't deserve 15 shots on this team EVERY GAME AUTOMATICALLY and of those 15 shots, 10 of them are 3's? No. If that is the case then Love should be an 18 minute per game spot up shooter like a Gabe York / Kyle Fogg. Not the LEADER.
This team has no chemistry. I don't see Lloyd being the coach to bring back the days of Olson. Love can't leave too soon. He is a killer in so many ways. Yes, he has days or a string of games where he is lights out and gives fans some worthless hope but ultimately we know, he's going to kill us as soon as the next game.
Come March Madness, we'll be gone by the sweet 16. Unfortunately for AZ, not unusual.... no matter who the coach is. Must be some kind of curse...
Quote from: Sy1960 on March 01, 2025, 09:38:16 PMThis team has no chemistry. I don't see Lloyd being the coach to bring back the days of Olson. Love can't leave too soon. He is a killer in so many ways. Yes, he has days or a string of games where he is lights out and gives fans some worthless hope but ultimately we know, he's going to kill us as soon as the next game.
Come March Madness, we'll be gone by the sweet 16. Unfortunately for AZ, not unusual.... no matter who the coach is. Must be some kind of curse...
It isn't a curse. Your first post does however resemble the typical 'woe is me' opinion of an Arizona fan which I won't blame anyone for. It does always seem like this school's men's basketball team always gets the short end of the stick when it matters.
I also agree Tommy is not in control of this program and he has a limited mental capacity on how to handle his tool belt/tool kit. He has all the items on the shelf, but he can't get them to play the game properly.
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When you see the team in person, it's obvious that they have chemistry, with the exception of Love's erratic play, which kills the ability to consistently run the offense that was so effective over the prior three seasons.
ISU smothered us in the half court last night, similar to Houston earlier this season. We couldn't move the ball and they deserve props.
The only difference in this game was three point shooting. It's strange to say it after it "feels" like we were dominated last night but the stats don't lie:
Arizona had fewer turnovers
Arizona committed less fouls
Arizona was better from the FT line
Arizona had more offensive rebounds (and tied overall)
Arizona had more steals
Seven more Cyclone threes killed us. Their guards released the ball quickly and didn't try to force "hero-ball".
Hopefully Arizona plays angry against Hurley and has momentum, going into Lawrence.
AZ took more 3pt. attempts than Iowa State did.
AZ's 3pt.% is 310th in the country, AZ's distribution of points coming from 3pt. shots is only 25% which is 336th in the country.
Arizona had one more attempt (not "attempts") 😉
I consider it a positive attribute that we don't rely heavily on our outside shot because we'd be dead if outside shooting accounted for more than 1/3 of our points.
We can get to the hoop, draw contact, make free throws (for the first time since Ballo arrived) and take mid-range jumpers.
Quote from: KansasCityCats on March 02, 2025, 07:39:12 AMWhen you see the team in person, it's obvious that they have chemistry, with the exception of Love's erratic play, which kills the ability to consistently run the offense that was so effective over the prior three seasons.
ISU smothered us in the half court last night, similar to Houston earlier this season. We couldn't move the ball and they deserve props.
The only difference in this game was three point shooting. It's strange to say it after it "feels" like we were dominated last night but the stats don't lie:
Arizona had fewer turnovers
Arizona committed less fouls
Arizona was better from the FT line
Arizona had more offensive rebounds (and tied overall)
Arizona had more steals
Seven more Cyclone threes killed us. Their guards released the ball quickly and didn't try to force "hero-ball".
Hopefully Arizona plays angry against Hurley and has momentum, going into Lawrence.
That is too long of a way to say that the game of basketball is a product of "Make or Miss", they made shots, we missed shots.
If you watch the games, teams like BYU and Iowa State run actual plays which lead to open shots and thus usually better chances to succeed. If you watch Arizona you would know that Tommy is just letting them weave the perimeter until Love or someone chucks one up.
So your comment of "we have chemistry except Love's erratic play".... Well that Erratic play accounts for so much of the all around Offense that you can't ignore it like it some random outlier.
There is no chemistry if there is erratic play. The Coach is responsible for stopping the Erratic play.
Or is "Chaos" Tommy's strategy this year?
We ran the same effective plays against BYU but Iowa State deserves credit in Ames because their defense prevented us from moving without the ball.
Arizona still scores more PPG than any other school in the Big-12, so Lloyd's "chaos" is obviously working on most nights.
The major adjustment that Arizona needs on defense is fighting through screens at the top of the key and/or effectively switching, to avoid open threes.
Otherwise, it's truly a case of whether our guards hit their jumpers. That's always the determining factor in our wins this season because we do everything else well (post scoring, free throws, interior defense, etc).