Iowa State Cyclones vs St. John's Red Storm Point Spread Picks

Two great teams here with St. John's and Iowa State meeting. Just don't expect as many points as the oddsmaker has projected. This Players' Era Championship tournament takes place at Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas. This is a smaller arena, and shooting can be brutal here. Iowa State has not played in Las Vegas in 13 years. The Cyclones are led by point guard Tamin Lipsey, who is one of the best at steals in the nation. St. John's likes to run under Rick Pitino. The Red Storm are the clear favorite to win the Big East. They have put up some high-scoring games, which is a major reason why this total is so high. Iowa State is extremely well coached, too, under T.J. Otzelberger. His Cyclones are known for their aggressive defense. There is a slight contrast in styles here. That should play well to the UNDER, especially given the neutral-site venue. Take the UNDER. 

Both teams are off to great starts this year with St. John's undefeated in eight games and Iowa State is 6-1 and the only loss was against Connecticut. The Cyclones have won all four true home games, including 63-44 over North Dakota on Wednesday when they outscored the Fighting Hawks 37-20 in the second half while holding them to 35 percent shooting for the game. Coach T.J. Otzelberger is in his second year at Iowa State, which finished 22-13 last season after winning only two games the year before. He lost his top three scorers, but he has replaced them with some talented transfers. St. John's will be playing its first true road game and it will be going up against a tough Iowa State defense that is allowing just a .375 field goal percentage overall and .270 from 3-point range. Take Iowa State.