Iowa State Cyclones vs North Carolina Tar Heels Point Spread Picks

Iowa State is a higher seed here, but there are two flaws for them. One is defense as they don't play it much. Iowa State ranks ninth in the 10-team Big 12 in points allowed, sixth in field goal defense, and ninth in three-point defense allowing 36.6% shooting beyond the arc. The other aspect is an injury. Iowa State lost a key piece of its team while defeating North Carolina Central 93-75 on Friday night. Sophomore forward Georges Niang suffered a fracture in his right foot and will miss the rest of the NCAA tournament. Niang is the Cyclones' third-leading scorer averaging almost 17 points per game, and was playing his best ball of the season. He was a huge part of Iowa State's Big 12 tournament championship. Despite their uptempo style, this is not a deep Iowa State team, so the loss is major on many levels. With Niang sidelined, the Cyclones have only six players left on their roster who average more than 6.2 minutes per game.  They like to run opponents into the ground, but that won't work against North Carolina, a young, deep squad that loves to run. Iowa State can be pushed around in the low post by bigger teams, and the Tar Heels rank ninth in the nation in rebounds. North Carolina started slow (0-3 ACC) and finished hot, winning 14 of the last 18. North Carolina rolled over the No. 3 team in the country (Louisville, 93-84), beat No. 1 Michigan State (79-65), beat No. 11 Kentucky (82-77), along with wins over Duke and Pitt, two more Top 25 teams. Play North Carolina.