WVU vs. #16 Iowa State Preview - Riot Ball, Y'All

Game Day Vitals

• West Virginia Mountaineers (14-10, 6-5 Big XII) vs. #16 Iowa State Cyclones (18-4, 6-4 Big XII)
• Series Record: 0-2, last meeting was a loss at home 83-74
• Location: Oliver Garden (Capacity: 14,000) Morgantown, West Virginia
• Vegas Lines: (+2) for the good guys, O/U -156.0
• Date: Monday, February 10th, 2014, at 7:00PM EST
• Television: ESPNU / WatchESPN
• O/U on number of times the phrase "Bubble" is said: 2.5
• Radio Affiliates

Opponent Information

(click to embiggen)

• #16 Iowa State Cyclones (18-4, 6-4 Big XII)
• Head Coach - Fred Hoiberg, 4th year as head coach, 80-43 (.650)
• Odds on picture of Hoiberg in thigh huggers being brought on screen: 3:1
  
• Last Result - Melvin Ejim buried TCU in Ames 84-69
• Official Cyclones athletics website
• SBN Iowa State blog - Wide Right & Natty Lite

YES SIR

Game Preview

There's no doubt that Iowa State poses some serious match-up issues for the Mountaineers. The most obvious one is pretty obvious: this game puts Iowa State's fourth-ranked scoring offense against West Virginia's 227th-ranked scoring defense. That, to put it bluntly, ain't good. That offensive attack is lead by four players who average double digits, lead by Melvin Ejim's 19.8, Georges Niang's 16.2, and DeAndre Kane's 16. As mentioned above, Ejim is coming off a performance for the ages, where he dropped roughly one billion points on TCU.

Fortunately for the Mountaineers, Iowa State has some defensive issues of their own, as they boast the 249th ranked scoring defense in the NCAA. To have a shot in what will likely be a shootout in the Coliseum, WVU's Big Three of Juwan Staten, Eron Harris, and Terry Henderson will have to be on their games and match Iowa State's scorers stride for stride.

This is another shot for the Mountaineers to get a top ten RPI win, after missing out at the Phog on Saturday. Iowa State is number eight in those rankings, and a win against the 'Clones could give the good guys the boost they need to jump from "Next Four Out" to "Last Four In" come Lunardi's next Bracketology.

The question is, do they have the fire power to keep up with the 'Clones? We'll find out tonight.

Prediction -- Iowa State 86 West Virginia 83