The Iowa State Cyclones (17-12, 8-9 Big 12) and No. 8 Baylor Bears (22-8, 11-6) close out their regular-season play Saturday in Waco, Texas. Tip from Ferrell Center is at noon ET (ESPN2). Below, we analyze Tipico Sportsbook’s lines around the Iowa State vs. Baylor odds, and make our expert college basketball picks, predictions and bets.
Rankings courtesy of the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll.
Iowa State limps in with a 1-6 mark over its last 7 games. ISU is a defense-first team (it leads the Big 12 in scoring defense at 62.3 points allowed per game), but it has endured difficult-to-overcome shooting problems over that stretch, shooting just 39.5% from the floor.
The Bears kicked off their conference slate with 3 straight losses from Dec. 31-Jan. 7. The first of those was a 77-62 defeat at ISU. However, Baylor is 11-3 in 14 league games since, including a 6-2 mark in February.
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Iowa State at Baylor odds
Provided by Tipico Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated at 5:40 a.m. ET.
- Moneyline: Iowa State +270 (bet $100 to win $270) | Baylor -350 (bet $350 to win $100)
- Against the spread (ATS): Iowa State +7.5 (-105) | Baylor -7.5 (-115)
- Over/Under (O/U): 135.5 (O: -110 | U: -110)
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Iowa State at Baylor picks and predictions
Prediction
Baylor 69, Iowa State 64
Moneyline
The home 5 should pick up the win Saturday, but there is no value on Baylor (-350).
PASS.
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Against the spread
The Bears have more to play for here, with the Big 12 heading into tournament play next week. They’ll also be out for revenge after the Dec. 31 misstep.
However, going past 5.5 points brings a bit too much risk. STEER CLEAR.
Over/Under
The Under is 4-2 across the Bears’ last 6 road games.
ISU plays at a bottom-75 pace. BU is slower than average and has throttled back its tempo in recent weeks. Game 1 between these two cleared the total by 6 points (139 on a 133) but that was quite a bit of garbage-time spiral over the final minutes. Look for a tally here closer to that original 133.
BACK THE UNDER 135.5 (-105), but consider a partial-unit play unless to peg is raised to 137.5 or higher.
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