Baylor’s Kendall Brown shoots while Iowa State’s George Conditt defends during the Iowa State men’s basketball game against No. 1 Baylor, on Saturday Jan. 1, 2022, at Hilton Coliseum, in Ames. The Cyclones fell to the Bears 77-72.
AMES, Iowa — Iowa State had something to prove on Saturday in Ames.
The Cyclones had already elevated expectations by starting the season 12-0 with several high-level wins, but they were slated to face their toughest test yet — the defending national champion and No. 1 Baylor Bears.
While the Cyclones didn’t ace the test, they gave it their best shot in a 77-72 loss that solidified the idea Iowa State belongs on this stage.
The Cyclones are, in fact, legit — and they’re not far off from being on the same level as a Baylor program that has dominated the sport for the past two-plus years.
“Not as far as everybody thinks,” said Iowa State guard Izaiah Brockington after the game when asked about the gap between these two programs. “I feel like we’re close. I feel like we could have came out with a win today. That’s a really good team. They made tough shots and made big-time shots. They rebounded. We just got to do better executing the things that we wanted to do. We didn’t get those done.”
Against most teams on Iowa State’s schedule, Saturday’s effort likely would have resulted in a victory, but Scott Drew’s team is a completely different animal.
Iowa State had not seen a team with the type of talent in the backcourt that Baylor possesses. James Akinjo is as good as any point guard in the country. He proved it by posting 16 points and making difficult shots look routine.
Adam Flagler and Mattew Mayer are both exceptional. They’re both capable of giving the Bears 20-plus points on a given night.
That trio, plus LJ Cryer, was able to penetrate the lane and scramble Iowa State’s defense better than any team the Cyclones have played to this point in the season. From there, the Bears made shots, hitting 7-of-17 shots from deep and connecting on numerous tough contested shots at the end of shot clocks.
Baylor’s depth is what will make them a tough out for any team in college basketball this season. After seeing them in person, they’re the odds on favorite to repeat as national champions, in my mind, and by a considerable margin.
They’re that freaking good.
“They’ve got some veteran guys who’ve played in big games,” said Iowa State head coach T.J. Otzelberger. “Part of finding ways to win big games is making those shots when they matter at the end of the clock. So I felt like some of our ball pressure could have certainly been better. Some of our switches could have been a little more clear and better to take things away. But they’re a good team.”
Iowa State proved it is a really good team again in this game, though, too.
The Cyclones pushed the defending national champions to the brink despite shooting just 1-of-14 from 3-point range. Knockdown even two more of those and you win the basketball game.
Tristan Enaruna continued his strong pre-Christmas play by tallying 23 points and eight rebounds on 8-of-11 shooting from the field.
Enaruna is the player that can take Iowa State from being a really good team to being a potentially elite team. He’s a great cutter without the ball in his hands and is adept at finding open spots. His activity on the offensive glass makes him a threat every time a shot goes up.
If Iowa State can unlock his potential as a playmaker and ball-handler, he has the skills to play a role similar to the one Georges Niang did for four years as a top-of-the-key threat. That’s not to say Enaruna is on the same plane as Niang (that would be crazy), but he’s got the skill set to be utilized in a similar way.
“He’s been a lot more intentional about setting the tone with being a great cutter, with doing a great job on the glass, finishing around the rim with force,” Otzelberger said. “Today, I mean, to be 8-of-11 from the field and 7-of-8 from the foul line against a team with that size and length and physicality says a lot about his continued progress and development.”
Izaiah Brockington is still as tough a cover as any player in this league. He scored 18 points on 5-of-10 shooting and 8-of-8 from the free-throw line to go along with eight rebounds.
Brockington played like a man possessed for stretches in the first half, scoring in bunches, crashing the offensive glass with ferocity and doing everything to will his team.
Unfortunately, those two just couldn’t make up for the offensive struggles of Iowa State’s two lead guards.
Tyrese Hunter finished with 12 points on 5-of-12 shooting and went 0-of-3 from 3-point range. The true freshman had only four assists with three turnovers against his first Big 12 competition.
Gabe Kalscheur played his worst game of the season, going 0-of-2 from the field with six turnovers, before fouling out after 25 minutes of play.
Despite that, Iowa State was right in the basketball game with multiple chances to claw back closer to even with the Bears. Every time they got close, Baylor either knocked down a difficult shot or Iowa State made an uncharacteristic self-inflicted mistake.
Those are the things that decide the game when you’ve got two high-level teams going head-to-head and that’s exactly what we saw on Saturday in Ames.
“I felt like the competitive spirit was certainly there for 40 minutes,” Otzelberger said. “There were times that in transition and things, some live-ball turnovers, those are plays that you can’t afford to have in a game like that. But overall, from an effort, energy, diving for loose balls rotate and defensively, taking charges, effort on the boards, those sort of things. Our guys did a great job. Now, we’ve just got to be a little more sound in our execution, and probably have some more timely offense and shotmaking at key points in the game that propel us through.”
Iowa State will have plenty more chances to clean those things up because this is far from the last big-time stage this team will play on. In fact, they’ll play on another one Wednesday night when No. 25 Texas Tech visits Hilton Coliseum.
The Cyclones didn’t ace their first test, but they’ve got a lot of tests left to take — and they did well enough on this test to prove they’ve got the juice to ace them in the future.
This team is already really good. They’re really close to joining Baylor on that next level.
“They’re a good team,” Enaruna said. “But, I feel like we’re a good team, too.”
On Saturday, the Cyclones proved that to everyone who didn’t already believe.
