The Iowa State Cyclones reached No. 2 in the country on Monday. So, naturally, they had a target on their back. The Kansas Jayhawks were happy to take their shot.
The Cyclones were in Lawrence to face Kansas, which was one of three men’s games and one women’s game on the schedule. All three of the men’s games had the same pattern, with Iowa State-Kansas under a magnifying glass due to the nature of the match-up.
Men’s Results
Houston 77, West Virginia 48
Kansas 84, Iowa State 63
Baylor 94, Oklahoma State 79
Women
Texas Tech 71, Houston 59
Here are three thoughts on Tuesday’s action.
Cyclones Get Clobbered in Lawrence
The lead-up to Tuesday’s game between Iowa State and Kansas yielded some interesting facts.
For instance, this was a game more than 25 years in the making.
The same X user, Adam Sullivan, delivered a factoid Iowa State wasn’t going to like.
Iowa State was the rare favorite going into the game at Allen Fieldhouse.
Plus, it’s a rare night when Kansas is an underdog at home.
Iowa State lost its last seven games at Allen Fieldhouse going into Tuesday’s game. In fact, KU was 99-16 against ISU all-time at home going into the game.
So, yeah, we get it — Iowa State has had little success there. But this is the No. 2 Cyclones, part of a quartet of Big 12 teams that were 62-2 combined going into Tuesday’s action. Kansas is unranked and coming off an awful road loss to West Virginia. ISU’s got this.
Halftime score — Kansas 44, Iowa State 23. And, to be honest, it wasn’t that close.
The team that I saw beat Oklahoma State in person on Saturday at Hilton Coliseum disappeared. The Cyclones turned the ball over six times early. The defense was lacking. Kansas got hot from the floor. Just about everything went wrong for Iowa State.
But there’s another piece of this. Iowa State is one of the best teams in the country in scoring in the first four minutes of the second half.
Iowa State went off. The Cyclones started the first eight minutes on a 21-12 run and cut the lead to 11 points, 55-44. Nate Heise — who was everywhere on defense on Saturday — scored seven points in the that run. Kansas guard Darryn Peterson left the game around that time due to an apparent injury after trying to dunk the ball. He later returned. The stars were lining up.
Then, two minutes later, Kansas flipped the script, scoring seven straight points to push the lead back to 65-44. That was it. The Cyclones were out of gas.
Look, playing in Allen Fieldhouse is hard. Iowa State faced a Kansas team that had to be ticked off after losing to WVU. But the Cyclones were talented enough to win there on Tuesday. What happened?
Kansas got off to a hot start from the floor and never stopped. The Jayhawks shot 50% from the field and from the arc for most of the game. Peterson had a solid game, but Tre White set a career-high with five made 3-pointers and Melvin Council Jr. had a great offensive game. For once, Kansas’ offense was balanced.
This was a bad night for Iowa State. But it was its first bad night of the year. It came at a time when it might be expected, midway through the season after reaching No. 2 in the nation for the second time in school history. The trip to Allen Fieldhouse was ill-timed. Historically, though, it fits. But, Iowa State gets another shot on Valentine’s Day at Hilton Coliseum, and all Cyclones fans want that day is revenge.
Oklahoma State’s Defense Can’t Slow Baylor
While in Ames on Saturday, I saw Oklahoma State, too. The Cowboys played a nice first half against Iowa State but fell behind in the second half and coach Steve Lutz pointed the finger at his defense. The Cowboys were outrebounded 24-10 in the second half and failed to slow down Iowa State’s offense, which is much better than it showed on Tuesday.
Tuesday’s game with Baylor was a chance to try and clean that up. But the Cowboys ran into a desperate Baylor team, one that needed to win after losing its first three Big 12 games.
Halftime score: Baylor 57, Oklahoma State 39. That seemed to be the trend for the night. Baylor shot nearly 60 percent, outrebounded Oklahoma State and held the Cowboys under 50% shooting. Oklahoma State even made a nice run at Baylor in the second half, getting it down to 10 points. But the Cowboys couldn’t get much closer and Oklahoma State never led.
Desperation won out. Baylor had five players hit double figures. Baylor coach Scott Drew was searching for answers after the Houston game. Apparently, the answer is to shoot the lights out. But the Bears can’t count on that every game. The reality is OSU limited its turnovers and shot well enough to win. Baylor won because it shot a percentage that is hard to replicate game-to-game.
That might make Lutz feel a little bit better. But each loss for the Cowboys narrows their margins of making the NCAA Tournament. This is a high-scoring team led by Anthony Roy and Parsa Fallah. But if the defense doesn’t get better fast, the Cowboys may have trouble staying on a path to March Madness.
Lady Raiders Keep Rising Up
Until Texas Tech loses, every win sets a new milestone. After Tuesday’s win over Houston, the Lady Raiders tied the program record for a single season win streak with 19 straight wins, matching the 1992-93 national championship team that their head coach, Krista Gerlich, played for. The Lady Raiders started Big 12 play 6-0, something they haven’t done since 2000-01. They were already the third Big 12 team to start a season 18-0.
Houston hadn’t won a Big 12 game going into the contest and the Cougars were behind from the start, as Tech outscored them 16-9 in the first quarter. Houston cut into the lead right before halftime, but a buzzer-beating 3-poitner by Jalynn Bristow to end the half gave Tech a 10-point lead and momentum it never gave up.
Bailey Maupin has had a terrific season for the Lady Raiders. But Bristow is a difference-maker who is having a huge season. Before this season she averaged less than six points per game in two seasons. This season she’s averaging 12.8 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.2 steals and 2.1 blocks per game, all career highs. A place will need to be made for her on the All-Big 12 team come March.
Tech hopes to keep the undefeated season going against Utah on Saturday. I’ll be at that game. It should be one of the best women’s games on the slate.
