Yes, No. 6 Iowa State is a juggernaut when they're firing on all cylinders.
No, the Cyclones are not unbeatable.
Iowa State boasts an impressive 23-3 record on the season and they are definitely among the elite teams in the country that can compete for a national championship this year. But when looking deeper at the Cyclones' three losses they all have one thing in common: Each loss came on the road in Big 12 play.
About five weeks ago the Cyclones lost back-to-back contests at Kansas and Cincinnati. Iowa State got trounced by the Jayhawks 84-63, but stranger things have happened in Allen Fieldhouse, one of the toughest venues for visiting teams in the country. But a nine-point loss at Cincinnati? Hmm.
Then on February 10th the Cyclones went on the road to TCU and lost 62-55. Again --- hmm.
While BYU is hurting with the loss of Richie Saunders to a torn ACL, the Cougars still have everything to play for. Iowa State is great, but they've also put up some offensive stinkers this year. They haven't scored more than 74 points in any of their last four games, including the 55-point dud against TCU.
BYU can -- and will -- win this game.
How BYU gets their signature win
In our preview of this game, we already outlined the two keys to a BYU victory, which include limiting Milan Momcilovic's incredible 51.3% 3-point shooting while getting at least some bench 3-point shooting from BYU freshman Alexsej Kostic. Here are my bold predictions for how this game will play out.
In two of Iowa State's losses this year to Kansas and TCU, Momcilovic shot a combined 5-of-16. The Marriott Center is going to be rowdy, BYU will shade additional defense toward Momcilovic, and he's going to shoot an uncharacteristic 2-of-9 from the 3-point line against the Cougars.
Kevin Young is going to rely heavily on Khadim Mboup to help control the boards against a relatively small, athletic Iowa State team that doesn't feature any dominant rebounders. Mboup has been outstanding in his redshirt freshman season, and he's going to have a massive impact on the boards and on defense.
Both AJ Dybantsa and Robert Wright III are going to find it difficult to score against one of the best defenses in the country, and while it won't be efficient, they're going to combine for 50 points. Throw in some opportunistic scoring from Kennard Davis, Mihailo Boskovic, and two three-pointers from Kostic, and the Cougars will get just enough offense to pull this one out.