The Iowa State Cyclones host the Iowa Hawkeyes in a big matchup of in-state rivals on Thursday night. Iowa State comes into this game at 7-0 and ranked fourth in the nation while Iowa comes in at 7-2 and unranked.
The Cyclones haven't played a very difficult schedule to start the year, but they have easily passed all their tests so far. Iowa State has won its last six games by an average of almost 23 points per game after winning a close one against Colorado in its opener. Iowa will be the Cyclones' toughest test yet under new head coach Steve Prohm, but they have a talented roster that should be able to handle it.
Iowa State is led by senior forward Georges Niang who is coming off a career-high 31-point performance in the Cyclones' win over Buffalo. Niang is considered one of the best players in the nation, and he has played like it so far this season as he is averaging 18.6 points and 6.6 rebounds per game while shooting 53 percent from the field and 46 percent from three.
Niang is the headliner, but behind him are some other extremely impressive players, including Monte Morris, who leads the Big 12 with 7.3 assists per game, and Jameel McKay, who is averaging a double-double (13.9 ppg and 11.6 rpg) despite the fact that he's only making 32 percent of his free throws.
Iowa has played a much tougher schedule than Iowa State so far this season and has some nice wins because of it. The Hawkeyes have losses to a very good Dayton team and a ranked Notre Dame team but have nice wins over Wichita State, Florida State and a blowout of Marquette. Iowa will now face its toughest test of the season, though, as it will play in a place - Hilton Coliseum - where it has lost its last six.
The Hawkeyes best player this season has been senior forward Jarrod Uthoff, who has been one of the nice surprises in all of college basketball so far. Uthoff, like Niang, is coming off a career-best performance in his last game against Western Illinois as he scored 27 points. For the season, Uthoff is averaging 18.2 points per game and 6.4 rebounds per game while making a ridiculous 49 percent of his threes. Uthoff and Niang should be matched up quite often in this one, and that will be a great matchup to watch.
The issue for Iowa has been that Uthoff has been its only truly consistent offensive player, as junior guard Peter Jok is the only other Hawkeye averaging double figures so far this season. Even with his 12.9 points per game, though, Jok has been below 10 points on four different occasions so far this season and has shot less than 40 percent from the field, so Iowa needs him or anybody else to be more consistent on offense.
Iowa State won the matchup between these two schools last season in blowout fashion on the road against an Iowa team that made the NCAA tournament. Iowa State has defeated Iowa in five of the past six meetings, with Iowa's only win in that span coming three years ago in Niang's freshman year.
The game is scheduled to tip off at 7:30 p.m., and to watch the live broadcast go here. For the Iowa State radio broadcast go here and for the Iowa radio broadcast go here.