MVSU vs Iowa State 11/4/24 Game Information

Mississippi Valley State vs Iowa State Preview

The 2024-25 NCAA Basketball season tips off on Monday with a bucket full of non-conference games with smaller schools facing bigger schools in what are usually boring blowouts. One of those meetings will come in Ames, Iowa where the No. 5 ranked Iowa State Cyclones welcome Mississippi Valley State to Hilton Coliseum in a mismatch where oddsmakers have made the hosts big 40.5-point chalks. At first glance, this seems like a 100-55 type game where Iowa State cruises to a 25- to 30-point lead at the half and then takes it down a gear to make sure no one gets injured with second-stringers getting some valuable playing time. Can the Delta Devils stay within the betting number? Let’s take a look at the past results, trends, and make a free NCAA Basketball pick for you hoopsters.

MVSU Simply a Punching Bag in This Season Opener

Mississippi Valley State (14-17 ATS in 2023-24) has gone 12 straight seasons winning 9 or fewer games and this SWAC team will really be up against it on Monday night, facing a highly ranked team from a Power 4 conference on the Road. Leading the charge for MVSU this season ise Donovan Sanders (10.8 ppg), but he is the only return player who averaged 1.1 ppg or more, so this team who gives up points easily will have trouble scoring them (#358 in points allowed per possession) and may be in for another long season. Quoiren Walton and Alvin Stedric Jr. will need to contribute in a big way for this team to improve, but odds are the Delta Devils are in for another really long season.

Mississippi Valley State Betting Trends

• MVSU is just 5-25 at Home the last three seasons, the worst of any team
• The Under in the Delta Devils last 21 Road games 14-7
• MVSU is a perfect 4-0 ATS in its last four lined games
• Delta Devils have been outscored by 36, 28, 50, 41, and 18 the last five meetings
• MVSU failed to cover by 1.5 points in the last meeting (IOWA ST 110 MVSU 74)

Iowa State Can Basically Name its Score in This Game

Iowa State had one of the best point spread records in College Basketball last year (25-11 ATS) and the Cyclones are one of those rare teams you can blindly back in out of conference dribbles and in conference Home games. Iowa State is the kind of team that doesn’t beat themselves and ranked in the top six schools in D1 in forcing TO’s all of the last three years. The Cyclones return a number of quality players in Keshon Gilbert, Tamin Lipsey, Curtis Jones, JT Rock, and Milan Momcilovic and with transfers Nate Heise (Northern Iowa), Dishon Jackson (Charlotte), Joshua Jefferson (St. Mary’s) and Brandton Chatfield (Seattle), expect this team to make a strong Elite Eight or Final Four run for Head Coach TJ Otzelberger.

Iowa State Betting Trends

• Iowa State is 7-0 SU lifetime vs Mississippi Valley State
• The Cyclones have scored 110, 88, 83, 87, 96, and 87 the last five series meetings
• MVSU is a perfect 4-0 ATS in its last four games
• Iowa State is 25-12 ATS its last 37 games (+12.9 units)
• The Under is 13-4 the last 17 Cyclones games (+8.60 units)
• Iowa State is 21-3 SU in its last 24 games at Hilton Coliseum

MVSU vs Iowa State Prediction and Pick

The largest margin of victory in this series was 50 points—an 83-33 blowout on New Year’s Eve in 2014—and we could see that series record eclipsed here on Monday night in the season opener with a deep Iowa State wanting to start the season off right and having so many transfers who will want to strut their stuff and in a definite scheduling spot where they can do just that. The last time these two met in 2019, Iowa State raced out to a 56-33 lead at halftime in Ames, and this one could be a carbon copy of that meeting with the Cyclones likely playing a better 2nd Half with all of those new aforementioned transfers wanting to show why they were worthy of switching schools. Surpassing the century mark is highly likely here and a game in the 100-55 to 110-60 range would surprise nobody, even MVSU. Embrace logic.

Kevin’s Pick: Iowa State -40.5