Reed Arena - College Station, TX
Tip-off: Saturday, 2:00 p.m. ET
Line: TBD

No. 14 Iowa State aims for its fifth straight victory on Saturday when it visits No. 5 Texas A&M, which is looking to rebound from a tough loss. This is one of the marquee matchups of the weekend's Big 12/SEC Challenge, and it pits two former conference rivals against one other.

Monday's 85-72 rout of No. 4 Kansas gives the Cyclones (10-6-1 ATS overall) two wins versus top-four teams during a current four-game win streak (SU and ATS). Their most recent defeat came at Texas in overtime, which was their only ATS loss on the road all season (4-1 ATS). But it won't be easy to win at rowdy College Station against the Aggies (7-6-2 ATS overall) who are a perfect 12-0 SU (4-2-1 ATS) at Reed Arena and outscoring these visitors by a hefty 20.5 PPG margin. These schools last met as Big 12 foes in the 2011-12 season when Iowa State rolled to a pair of blowout wins (74-50 and 69-46). But prior to that, Texas A&M had captured eight straight meetings (7-1 ATS), and could be the more hungry team after a 74-71 loss at Arkansas on Wednesday. However, the Cyclones have been able to stay focused after SU wins this season with an 8-3-1 ATS mark in the following game. While the Aggies have no significant injury concerns, their opponent will carefully watch C Jameel McKay (knee), who is expected to play, but he could be limited.

Who will pick up the big win in this former Big 12 rivalry game? For the answer, connect to The Platinum Sheet for all the StatFox Experts Best Bets throughout the season. The experts are coming off a huge week at 64% ATS (16-9), led by StatFox Dave's perfect 5-0 ATS mark and StatFox Zach going 4-1 ATS. StatFox Brian had his sixth straight week of at least 60% ATS, giving him a stellar 67% ATS record (20-10) in this six-week timeframe. StatFox Gary is also hot, going 60% ATS (12-8) over the past four weeks, and StatFox Scott is a strong 56% ATS (10-8-2) in this same timeframe.

Iowa State is an explosive offensive squad with 84.4 PPG on a blistering 50.3% FG and solid 36.9% threes. This is an average foul-shooting team at 70.9% FT that rarely gets to the line with a mere 323 free-throw attempts, which ranks among the bottom-10 schools in the nation. However, the team has a strong 1.51 Ast/TO ratio because it usually makes the extra pass (16.8 APG) and keeps turnovers to a minimum (11.1 TOPG). Iowa State does not have a very tough defense, allowing 73.6 PPG on 43.1% FG and 35.4% threes, but it stays out of foul trouble with the fewest amount of personal fouls in D-I (14.6 per game). The team is strong on the defensive glass (28.5 Def. RPG), but grabs only 9.4 offensive RPG. Two upperclassmen continue to carry this program, senior F Georges Niang (19.3 PPG, 2nd in Big 12) and junior PG Monte Morris, whose stellar 4.8 Ast/TO ratio ranks third in the nation. The burly 6-foot-8 Niang rarely takes a bad shot, as evidenced by his 53% FG, 37% threes and 85% FT this season. He also grabs 6.4 RPG and dishes out 3.2 APG, and has a current streak of 29 straight double-figure scoring games dating to last season. After a season-low 11 points (4-of-12 FG) and seven turnovers on Saturday, the senior bounced back with 19 points (8-of-17 FG), six boards and only three turnovers in Monday's win versus Kansas. Morris has a career-high 15.5 PPG and 4.0 RPG this season, while ranking eighth in the nation in assists (7.0 APG) and 32nd in steals (2.1 SPG). He has committed more than three turnovers just once in 90 career games (4 TO last season at Kansas), and is coming off a monster night versus the Jayhawks, when he finished with 21 points and nine assists, giving him six straight games of scoring at least 17 points. Senior F/C Jameel McKay (12.9 PPG, 9.1 RPG) has five double-doubles this season and is shooting 59% from the floor this season. Junior G Matt Thomas (10.2 PPG, 5.1 RPG) is the school's best long-range shooter, as he is making 43% of his threes. Thomas has scored at least 11 points in five straight games, and has drained 10-of-21 threes during his team's win streak. Senior F Abdel Nader (12.9 PPG, 5.5 RPG) was a big reason his team pulled off the upset versus No. 1 Oklahoma last week with 20 points, and was outstanding against Kansas too with 17 points (6-of-9 FG, 3-of-3 threes), three assists and four steals.

Texas A&M is a strong offensive team with 78.0 PPG on 46.1% FG and 36.8% threes. The team loves to share the basketball (18.6 APG) and keeps the turnovers down to 12.6 per game. Rebounding is also solid at +4.5 RPG, but foul shooting can be problematic at 65.8% FT. The defense is also top-notch with only 64.3 PPG allowed on 39.6% FG and 31.8% threes. Racking up 7.8 steals per game and 3.7 blocks per game certainly helps the Aggies force an impressive 15.9 turnovers per game. Their two main scorers are a pair of seniors, F Jalen Jones (17.1 PPG, 7.0 RPG) and G Danuel House (15.8 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 2.7 APG). Jones has scored at least 10 points in 11 straight games, where he has averaged 18.8 PPG and 7.5 RPG. He posted his second double-double in four games during Wednesday's loss, but attempted only seven shots before fouling out with his 10 points and 10 rebounds. House has scored at least a dozen points in all but two games this season, and has averaged 20.5 PPG, 5.5 RPG and 4.0 APG over his past two contests. The third and final double-digit scorer is 6-foot-10 freshman C Tyler Davis (11.3 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 1.1 BPG), who is shooting a robust 67.3% from the floor this season. After struggling with a horrid 31% FG clip (8-for-26) in his first four January games, Davis is a sizzling 14-of-19 FG (74%) over his past three contests. Senior PG Alex Caruso (7.8 PPG, 5.1 APG, 3.4 RPG) is a pass-first point guard who rarely makes mistakes with a strong 2.3 Ast/TO ratio and nearly as many steals (43, 2.2 per game) as turnovers (44, 2.2 per game) this season. But in the past three games, Caruso has only 14 assists and 10 turnovers, and has gone 0-for-8 from three-point range where he shoots 40% on the season (18-of-45).