Battle leads West Virginia against No. 6 Iowa State after 24-point performance

Published Feb. 23, 2024 3:43 a.m. ET

Associated Press

West Virginia Mountaineers (9-17, 4-9 Big 12) at Iowa State Cyclones (20-6, 9-4 Big 12)

Ames, Iowa; Saturday, 2 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: West Virginia takes on the No. 6 Iowa State Cyclones after Raequan Battle scored 24 points in West Virginia's 77-67 win against the UCF Knights.

The Cyclones have gone 15-0 in home games. Iowa State averages 10.6 turnovers per game and is 19-3 when it wins the turnover battle.

The Mountaineers are 4-9 in conference matchups. West Virginia has a 1-3 record in one-possession games.

Iowa State scores 78.2 points per game, 3.7 more points than the 74.5 West Virginia allows. West Virginia has shot at a 42.0% clip from the field this season, 1.5 percentage points higher than the 40.5% shooting opponents of Iowa State have averaged.

The matchup Saturday is the first meeting of the season for the two teams in conference play.

TOP PERFORMERS: Keshon Gilbert is averaging 14.3 points, 4.2 assists and 1.6 steals for the Cyclones. Curtis Jones is averaging 12.8 points over the last 10 games for Iowa State.

Quinn Slazinski is shooting 32.7% from beyond the arc with 1.4 made 3-pointers per game for the Mountaineers, while averaging 12.9 points. Battle is shooting 39.2% and averaging 14.6 points over the past 10 games for West Virginia.

LAST 10 GAMES: Cyclones: 7-3, averaging 72.6 points, 32.0 rebounds, 14.4 assists, 9.0 steals and 3.2 blocks per game while shooting 44.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 70.1 points per game.

Mountaineers: 3-7, averaging 70.2 points, 32.0 rebounds, 13.1 assists, 4.4 steals and 3.7 blocks per game while shooting 44.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 79.1 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.