West Virginia Mountaineers vs Iowa State Cyclones Prediction, 1/2/2026 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: West Virginia Mountaineers vs Iowa State Cyclones

Date: Friday, January 2, 2026

Location: Hilton Coliseum in Ames, IA

TV: ESPN2

The Iowa State Cyclones (12-0) welcome the West Virginia Mountaineers (9-4) at Hilton Coliseum on Friday.

The West Virginia Mountaineers played MVSU and notched a win by a score of 86-51 in their last contest. Regarding fouls, the Mountaineers ended up finishing with 14 while MVSU totaled 15 fouls. They also made 1 of 9 tries from downtown. MVSU finished the game at 100.0% from the free throw line by burying 14 of 14 tries. In addition, MVSU totaled 23 boards (9 offensive, 14 defensive), but wasn't able to record a rejection. MVSU dished out 6 assists and had 5 steals in the matchup. When talking about defending, West Virginia allowed the other team to go 34.0% from the field on 18 out of 53 shooting. They also recorded 17 dimes in this game in addition to forcing 8 turnovers and earning 3 steals. In regard to getting rebounds, they compiled 31 with 9 of them being offensive. At the free throw line, the Mountaineers converted 14 of 18 attempts for a percentage of 77.8%. West Virginia walked away from the contest with a 53.6% field goal percentage (30 of 56) and knocked down 12 out of their 27 3-pointers.

Treysen Eaglestaff is someone who came through for the contest. He totaled 23 points on 9 of 16 shooting. He was on the hardwood for 33 mins and also grabbed 8 boards. He finished the contest at 56.3% from the field and also earned 2 assists.

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West Virginia comes into this matchup with a record of 9-4 for the year. They are giving up possession 10.5 times per contest and as a team are committing 14.8 personal fouls on a nightly basis. As a team, West Virginia is collecting 37.1 boards per contest and has 185 assists this season, which ranks 190th in college hoops in terms of passing. The Mountaineers are hitting 35.9% on 3-pointers (111 of 309) and 68.9% from the free throw line. They average 76.2 pts per game (222nd in college) while going 45.5% from the field.

On the defensive end, the Mountaineers are forcing their opponents into 13.4 turnovers per game and they draw 17.8 fouls. They concede 33.6% on shots from distance while they are 5th in college hoops in PPG allowed (60.2). The Mountaineers defensively are allowing a shooting percentage of 39.5% (275 of 697) and they surrender 31.9 rebounds per game as a unit. They are currently ranked 69th in Division 1 in giving up assists to the opposition with 145 surrendered so far this season.

For their last game, the Iowa State Cyclones got the win with a final of 91-60 when they faced Long Beach State. The Cyclones snagged 31 defensive boards and 10 offensive boards for a total of 41 for the contest. They gave up possession of the ball 12 times, while recording 5 steals for this game. Long Beach State committed 17 personal fouls in this contest which got the Cyclones to the free throw line for a total of 18 shots. They were able to make 8 of the free throw attempts for a rate of 44.4%. In the matter of shots from beyond the arc, Iowa State made 11 of their 21 attempts (52.4%). At the conclusion of this game, the Cyclones walked away from this one shooting 36 out of 65 from the floor which gave them a shooting percentage of 55.4%. The Cyclones permitted Long Beach State to make 25 of 63 attempts from the floor which left them with a shooting percentage of 39.7% for this contest. They finished 13.6% from 3-point land by shooting 3 of 22 and walked away from this one shooting 7 out of 10 at the free throw line (70.0%). When it comes to how they cleaned up the glass, Iowa State allowed Long Beach State to pull down 25 in total (5 offensive).

Milan Momcilovic was important for the Cyclones for this contest. He converted 9 of 11 for the game giving him a rate of 81.8%, and accounted for 3 rebounds. He had 27 points in his 29 minutes on the hardwood, but didn't record an assist.

Iowa State has a record of 12-0 so far this year. On the offensive side of the court, the Cyclones are hitting on 53.4% from the field, which is 2nd in D-1. Iowa State has 1,086 points for the season (90.5 per contest) and they pull in 36.2 boards per contest. They are dishing out assists 18.8 times per contest (25th in the nation) and they turn it over 10.3 times per game. The Cyclones have committed 15.3 personal fouls per game while shooting 68.5% from the charity stripe.

The Cyclones on the defensive side of the court are 10th in the country in points per game surrendered with 63.0. They are forcing their opponents into 18.3 turnovers per game and have let teams shoot 41.9% from the field (109th in college). The Iowa State defense concedes 32.1% from downtown (84 of 262) and their opponents are making 66.3% of their shots from the charity stripe. They have given up 12.8 assists and 30.2 boards every game, which is ranked 147th and 22nd in the nation.

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

Tony Sink's Pick: Take West Virginia

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