Feb 8, 2022; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers forward Pauly Paulicap (1) blocks a dunk attempt by Iowa State Cyclones guard Izaiah Brockington (1) during the second half at WVU Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports
Iowa State head coach T.J. Otzelberger has talked numerous times in recent weeks about the importance of his team not digging themselves into a hole early in games.
On Tuesday, we found out why that is so important once again.
The Cyclones never led in Morgantown on their way to a 79-63 loss to West Virginia, dropping Iowa State to 16-8 overall and 3-8 in the Big 12.
Iowa State has now lost five of its last seven games with the season’s most important stretch starting on Saturday when Kansas State visits Hilton Coliseum. The Cyclones close the season with four of their last seven games at home and probably need wins in all four of those home games to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive.
There were very few bright spots for Iowa State in this game, but Tyrese Hunter did score 22 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the field, 2-of-8 from 3-point range and 6-of-7 from the free-throw line while four assists and three rebounds with six turnovers.
Izaiah Brockington scored 11 points on 4-of-12 from the field and grabbed six rebounds. Caleb Grill was the only other Cyclone to score in double-figures with 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting from deep.
As a team, Iowa State shot just 37.9 percent from the field (22-of-58), 28 percent from 3-point range (7-of-25) and an abysmal 12-of-22 from the charity stripe, including a 1-of-6 stretch during the first half.
Meanwhile, West Virginia was able to blow the game open by connecting on 50 percent of their shots from the field and 50 percent of their shots from deep on 10 made 3-pointers. The Mountaineers entered the game shooting just 31.3 percent from deep as a team then promptly connected on three of their first four 3-point attempts to build an early 11-5 lead.
Bob Huggins’ team never looked back on their way to snapping a seven-game losing streak.
