Jan 18, 2022; Lubbock, Texas, USA; Iowa State Cyclones guard Izaiah Brockington (1) looses the ball in front of Texas Tech Red Raiders forward Daniel Batcho (4) and guard Kevin McCullar (15) in the second half at United Supermarkets Arena. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Izaiah Brockington thinks back and laughs.
The laugh is prompted by the first-team All-Big 12 selection remembering when defenses started to pay significantly more attention to him than they ever had before during his first four years in college.
Opponents would load up their help to his side. Defenders wouldn’t give him an inch of space or let their eyes wander from the Penn State transfer who has averaged 17.5 points per game for Iowa State this season.
While most defenders would be fulfilling their help defense responsibilities, Brockington’s were focused solely on guarding him.
Iowa State’s No. 1, both in uniform number and most everything else, was suddenly No. 1 on every team’s scouting report.
“It was definitely an adjustment, especially once we got to conference play,” Brockington said on Wednesday in Kansas City ahead of Iowa State’s Big 12 Tournament quarterfinal match-up with Texas Tech here on Thursday. “It was actually a little frustrating at first because I’ve never been guarded like that in college. And I was like, ‘why are they all focusing so much attention on me?’ Trying to deny and things like that. I feel like it was just another thing that I had to learn. I had to learn different ways to get open, how to misdirect and things like that, and just be stubborn as Coach would say, and just find a way to get it done.”
He’s certainly figured it out.
Brockington enters Thursday night’s battle with the Red Raiders (8:30 p.m. on ESPN2) as one of the Big 12’s most dangerous scorers. His 17.5 points per game are good for the third-best average in the league and he poured in multiple massive scoring performances when his team needed them most.
Of course, there are the 35 points he scored in the program’s come-from-behind win over West Virginia, but he had a 27-point performance against Kansas State earlier this year, too. He scored 26 on the road at Oklahoma State and 24 in a home loss to Kansas.
Suddenly, a guy who entered the year with a career scoring average of 8.3 points per game, was scoring two and three times that many points on a nightly basis in the best conference in America.
“He’s a prolific scorer, does it in a lot of ways, people talk quite a bit about his ability to make tough mid-range shots, because it’s certainly an outlier in how he does that,” Iowa State head coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “But he has that ability to take over a game to get a rhythm. For sure. Now, we’re hopeful that other guys are stepping up and making shots around him. Because we realize that specifically with Tech, they’re gonna have a great focus on not letting him catch it.”
There is no tougher test for Brockington’s scoring ability — and Iowa State’s offense as a whole — than this Red Raider squad that held the Cyclones to 55.5 points per game in the pair of contests these teams split during the regular season.
Mark Adams’ team is going to make it difficult for Brockington to catch the ball, but they’re also going to try and prevent everyone else from getting to their favorite spots or really doing anything with the basketball using their much-hyped no-middle scheme that has taken college basketball by storm.
Or perhaps being held hostage might be a better way to put what this type of defense has done to college hoops because that’s what playing against Texas Tech’s defense most resembles.
You’re held hostage in a room filled with sharp objects and tripwires that can lead to your demise at a moment’s notice.
This team will grab, hold and bump people off their paths, whether they have the basketball or not. No drive will be easy. No off-ball cut will be easy, either.
The only way to beat that level of physicality is by matching it — or speeding up the game significantly and trying to run past it.
“Tech has always been a physical team,” senior center George Conditt said. “But, I feel like we’ve got a good game plan and we’re gonna stick to it.”
That level of physicality has allowed Tech to wear Iowa State down during the second halves of each game they played this season.
In those two games, the Red Raiders outscored the Cyclones a combined 74-58 after halftime. Iowa State holds a combined 53-45 advantage before the intermission, though.
Needless to say, matching Tech’s physicality for the full 40 minutes is likely to be the difference between going home and moving onto a Big 12 semifinal match-up Friday night here at the T-Mobile Center.
“I feel like we kind of let their defense dictate us,” Brockington said of those second halves against Tech. “Also, I feel like they kind of wore us down. A lot of times with their just hustle. They were always making the extra effort play, second efforts, things like that. Offensive rebounds, and-ones, things that just kind of deflate you over time, and I feel like they just always keep coming.”
Tech will always keep coming, but, as this entire season has proven, so will Brockington and these Cyclones. No matter how badly you outplay them for a stretch, they’re never going to give up, quit and walk away with their tails between their legs.
They’re going to keep fighting, keep battling, keep playing.
Always thinking of the next play and how they’re going to execute their jobs in order to get a win. Scraping, clawing and doing everything possible to will their opponent into submission.
On Thursday, they’ll come face-to-face with the team that does that as well as — or better than — every team in college basketball.
It will be time to win or go home — and the Cyclones don’t plan to go home.
“I just feel like stuff is aligning,” Conditt, the lone remaining member of Iowa State’s 2019 Big 12 Tournament title team, said. “We’ve just got to have the right attitude about everything, man. Same attitude we had my freshman year. We love the fans, and we appreciate everybody, but they’re not gonna go out there and play for us. It’s us 13 guys in that locker room. It’s just us.”
