Long Beach State Beach vs Iowa State Cyclones Prediction, 12/21/2025 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Long Beach State Beach vs Iowa State Cyclones

Date: Sunday, December 21, 2025

Location: Hilton Coliseum in Ames, IA

TV: ESPN+

The Iowa State Cyclones (11-0) will try to defeat the Long Beach State Beach (3-9) at Hilton Coliseum on Sunday.

The Long Beach State Beach faced Pepperdine and earned the victory with a final of 81-78 in their last contest. In regard to personal fouls, the Beach walked away with 17 and Pepperdine finished the game with 16 personal fouls. They converted 8 of 22 attempts from downtown. Pepperdine shot 80.0% from the charity stripe by knocking down 8 of their 10 attempts. Furthermore, Pepperdine pulled down 27 boards (4 offensive, 23 defensive), but wasn't able to put a block in the stat sheet. Pepperdine earned 15 assists and had 3 steals for the matchup. Pertaining to defense, Long Beach State let their opponent shoot 58.5% from the floor on 31 out of 53 shooting. They also dished out 14 assists for this contest while forcing the opposition into 14 turnovers and getting 8 steals. Concerning hauling in boards, they compiled 18 with 3 of them being offensive. From the free throw line, the Beach knocked down 15 of 19 attempts for a percentage of 78.9%. Long Beach State wrapped up the contest having earned a 53.6% field goal percentage (30 out of 56) and made 6 out of their 10 shots from beyond the perimeter.

Gavin Sykes is one guy who came through in this contest. He finished the game shooting 56.3% from the floor and also dished out 3 assists. He played for 34 minutes and also totaled 3 boards. He accumulated 23 points on 9 of 16 shooting.

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Long Beach State will enter this game with a mark of 3-9 this year. They are averaging 73.0 points per contest (279th in Division 1) while connecting on 44.0% from the field. The Beach are connecting on 32.3% on shots from 3-point land (85 of 263) and 70.7% from the charity stripe. As a unit, Long Beach State is pulling down 32.8 boards per contest and has totaled 154 assists this year, which has them ranked 249th in D-1 in terms of passing the ball. They are losing possession via turnover 12.1 times per contest and as a squad are committing 20.5 personal fouls per contest.

Defensively, the Beach are forcing 14.0 turnovers on a nightly basis while drawing 16.9 fouls. They are giving up 36.8% on shots from beyond the arc and they rank 290th in D-1 in opponents PPG (78.2). The Beach defense is giving up a shooting percentage of 50.0% (318 of 636) and they relinquish 32.5 rebounds per game as a unit. They rank 223rd in college hoops in allowing assists to the opposition with 158 surrendered so far this year.

The last time they took the court, the Iowa State Cyclones got the victory with a final of 78-53 against Eastern Illinois. The Cyclones corralled 25 defensive rebounds and 10 offensive boards for a total of 35 for the game. They also gave up possession of the ball 12 times, while earning 10 steals in this contest. Eastern Illinois earned 16 fouls in this contest which took the Cyclones to the free throw line for 27 shots. They were able to convert 20 of those for a percentage of 74.1%. In terms of three-point shots, Iowa State made 4 of their 23 tries (17.4%). When all was said and done, the Cyclones finished the game shooting 27 for 58 from the field which had them sitting at 46.6%. The Cyclones permitted Eastern Illinois to make 19 out of their 53 attempts from the field which gave them a shooting percentage of 35.8% for the matchup. They finished shooting 31.6% from three-point range by going 6 out of 19 and finished the contest at 9 out of 12 from the free throw line (75.0%). When talking about team rebounding, Iowa State permitted Eastern Illinois to pull down 23 in all (5 on the offensive side).

Milan Momcilovic ended up being a factor for the Cyclones for the game. He earned 18 points in his 25 minutes on the court, but finished this game without an assist. He made 6 of 11 in this game giving him a rate of 54.5%, and accumulated 5 rebounds.

Iowa State has a record of 11-0 on the year. The Cyclones are responsible for committing 15.7 fouls every game while shooting 70.4% from the free throw line. They are dishing out assists 18.4 times per game (33rd in the country) and they lose possession via turnover 10.2 times per contest. Iowa State has totaled 995 pts for the season (90.5 per contest) and they average 35.4 boards per game. When it comes to offense, the Cyclones are shooting 53.2% from the field, which ranks 4th in the country.

The Cyclones on the defensive end are ranked 14th in the nation in PPG allowed with 63.3. They are forcing 18.6 TO's per game and have let teams shoot 42.2% from the floor (129th in D-1). The Iowa State defense gives up 33.8% on shots from distance (81 of 240) and their opponents are connecting on 66.0% of their free throw shots. They have relinquished 13.5 dimes and 30.4 total boards per game, which ranks 193rd and 25th in college hoops.

Who will win tonight's NCAA game against the spread?

Tony Sink's Pick: Take Long Beach State

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