2024 keeps upping the ante and the final weeks of the regular college basketball season are here! Teams start positioning themselves for seeding in their conference tournaments. Naturally, this means big time clashes and a meeting of Top 10 teams ranks up there this week. Let's head to Houston, Texas. At Online Sports Betting, we look at a matchup which might be a real defensive slugfest. So, we examine some Houston vs Iowa State Bets featuring two of the best teams in the country.
- WHAT: Iowa State Cyclones versus Houston Cougars
- WHEN: Monday, February 19th, 2024, 9:00 pm ET on ESPN or streamed on FUBO TV
- WHERE: Fertitta Center, Houston, Texas
- WHY: Huge Big 12 Monday Matchup
The bettors salivate over games like this normally. The Houston vs Iowa State Picks spotlight two teams going for one of the top seeds in the NCAA Tournament. Now, betting on NCAA College Men's basketball futures is challenging. After all, Iowa State is making inroads with the futures at +2000. Currently, Houston is at +900. Here is a quick table for this exciting Big 12 clash, courtesy of Bovada Online Sportsbook.
Houston vs Iowa State Bets Like The Cougars?
Houston vs Iowa State Bets are curious about the Cougars. So, what happened with Houston in the past couple of weeks? Honestly, that answer is the team is getting back into a rhythm. Houston won three straight games including a 21-point rout of Texas on Saturday. Houston will be number two in the polls when they come out on Monday. Literally, this team is right behind Connecticut in many metrics and is still the top team in the nation defensively (55 points per game allowed).
Even with their prowess, Houston learned the hard way of how challenging the Big 12 can be. Right now, the Cougars come in with a 9-3 mark in conference. That is good enough to tie for first place. Yes, Iowa State is enjoying a historic season of their own. They cracked the Top 10 and are also 9-3 in the conference. Iowa State beat Houston at home earlier in the season by four points. It was one of the lowest scoring games of their entire season.
Yes, the winner not only gets to ten wins in the conference but may very well gain the upper hand in the race for the regular season title. With that comes the top seed in the conference tournament. However, this time, Houston garners the home court and wants revenge for that early January defeat.
Let's roll hard with this Monday night game. Also, we expound a bit more on both teams. Can Houston cover what seems to be a rather high spread? First, we take them to win but the questions may lie elsewhere with some other picks.
Kelvin Sampson Knows What Houston Needs To Do
The Houston vs Iowa State bets are stepping deep with Houston. Kelvin Sampson knows what Houston needs to do. Sometimes that gets to be easier said than done. Just ask Purdue what happened in Columbus on Sunday afternoon. Now, the difference here is this game is in Houston. This Cougars team expects to be ready. Do not expect Houston to fall behind by more than ten points like they did early in the second half either. That occurred in meeting number one.
Do expect a somewhat better shooting effort. Houston will not shoot 38% at home. They might hold Iowa State under 40% again. From the perimeter, Houston can hold teams to some ugly numbers while crashing the boards. That will be vital in this game along with getting to the line. Iowa State was +10 on points from the foul line. That was the difference. Houston will need this and Coach Sampson knows the Cougars must get the Cyclones into foul trouble.
The most vital key is the three-guard setup with Houston. LJ Cryer headlines the Cougars and leads them averaging more than 15 points a game. Meanwhile, Jamal Shead remains the ball distributor and can score himself. However, he dishes out 5.8 assists per contest. Emanuel Sharp fires in as the wildcard. Sharp can score but can go ice cold from the field. Houston must have all three playing well against Iowa State.
Again, a little depth would not hurt either. Houston netted five points from their bench which is the amount of points Cryer managed in the first meeting. That cannot happen again. Two props to fire out may be Sharp Over 11.5 points (-105) and Cryer Over 13.5 points at -125.
Houston On Monday Laying Ten Points?
So, what about Houston vs Iowa State bets laying a substantial ten points? Given the amount of points the two teams combined for in the first meeting, this number is a huge one. No one said this would be easy.
The risk is high here with the large spread. However, Houston saw the lesson given to them by Kansas earlier in the season. No one expects the Cougars to drop 75+ points here. At the same time, 53 is not likely either.
For OnlineSportsBetting, we like to take one flier on this and lay the ten anyway. Houston needs a signature win in conference to send a message. This is as big as it gets.
What About The Under For Tonight?
Finally, Houston vs Iowa State bets ponders the under for tonight. This game shifted up to 129 points. Honestly, that became a bit of a surprise given what we have seen with some defensive minded teams lately. Iowa State is no slouch yielding 62.5 points per game (7th in the nation). The chances this gets past 129 or so comes in low enough to pull the trigger.
Online Sportsbook Reviews At The Ready
Please know this Monday night sets up a nice week. So, online sportsbook reviews are at the ready for what expects to be quite a bumpy but fun week:
