Colorado at Iowa State (-3.5) - 5:00pm Pacific

The Cyclones continue to be a solid investment at home.  They are now 14-1 straight up (only loss vs #7 Oklahoma State) and 9-3 ATS in home games this season.  Iowa State has also dramatically improved in their last two road showings as they held leads late in games at Kansas (lost by 1 in OT three games ago) and at Nebraska (lost by 3 in last game).  Those two were sandwiched around a home win over Kansas State.  Iowa State returns home today for senior night which should be an emotional setting as popular senior guard Jake Sullivan plays his final scheduled home game.  Sullivan is a four year starter, team captain, and is 8th on the school's all time scoring list.  Power forward Jackson Vroman (13.6ppg, 10.0rpg, leads conference in rebounding) and reserve G/F Marcus Jefferson (returned to team from personal absence two games ago, provides solid experience off the bench) round out the notable seniors.  Iowa State only outrebounded 3 of its first 11 Big 12 opponents but have outrebounded each of their last 3 opponents (Kansas, Kansas State, Nebraska) by an average margin of +8.

 

Colorado is still lacking a true point guard.  Head coach Patton has rotated three players at the position, two sophomores and one freshman, none of which has been able to separate themselves from the others.  Forward Michel Morandis still leads the team in assists (3.3apg) by a decisive margin but he also leads the team in shot attempts and turnovers (3.2 per game) by decisive margins.  The Buffaloes rank 8th in the league in assists, 10th in the league in turnover margin, and last in the league in free throw shooting.  All three are fine ingredients for not playing well on the road.  After starting 1-4 in Big 12 road games, CU has won two straight, at KSU, and at Texas A&M but they had to rally from 6 down at half-time to escape A&M with a win in their last game.  This will be CU's second straight conference road game.  They lost by 19 at Kansas in their first back to back conference road game situation.

 

CU's mild recent road success is why this line is not higher.  I still do not believe they are a good road team.  Meanwhile, Iowa State is an outstanding home team and will be fired up for final home game.  Cyclones will also be looking to avenge earlier loss at Colorado in which starting center Jared Homan (11.2ppg, 6.2rpg, 2.7 blocks) was limited to just 6 points in 21 minutes before fouling out.  The home team has dominated this series winning 83 of 115 meetings including 5 straight.  Look for that trend to continue tonight.

 

Iowa State  1 UNIT