Iowa State Cyclones guard Keshon Gilbert (10) lays up the ball around Texas Tech Red Raiders forward Robert Jennings (25) and guard Kerwin Walton (24)during the second half in the Big-12 conference showdown of an NCAA college basketball at Hilton Coliseum on Feb. 17, 2024, in Ames, Iowa .© Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK
AMES — Iowa State big man Robert Jones shared a message for his team’s remaining foes that will enter Hilton Coliseum.
But the senior center had to make sure he delivered the clean version of his warning.
“Oh, I can’t swear on the mic,” Jones said with a grin after the No. 10 Cyclones beat Texas Tech, 82-74, Saturday at home. “But (we’re going) to bring it to anybody that comes into our gym.”
Jones’ self-censorship aside, ISU (20-5, 9-3) improved to 15-0 in Hilton Coliseum this season — and all but two of those wins have come by eight points or more. The Cyclones outscored the Red Raiders (18-7, 7-5) 28-0 in points off turnovers on Saturday and led by as many as 21 points before fending off a late, but futile charge from their foe.
“This place, I thought, squeezed us today,” Texas Tech head coach Grant McCasland said. “And then ultimately their ability to turn turnover into baskets was the difference.”
Junior guard Keshon Gilbert led ISU in scoring (24 points) rebounds (eight) and assists (five). He shot 50 percent from the field (8 of 16) and 57.1 percent (4 of 7) from the 3-point line and didn’t turn the ball over once.
All nine Cyclones who played in the game scored at last one basket — and five reached double figures in scoring.
“There’s not an ego out there that is trying to make a shot or play for themselves,” ISU head coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “It’s everything for the team, together. Tech does a really good job of trying to let the ball rest with one guy, so it’s harder to get many assists because they make you, at times, beat them one-on-one. So a lot of times we look at the assist numbers, but it still says a lot that as a group we were two-to-one (13 assists to six turnovers), even with how they defend. So we’re fortunate that on a given night it can be any number of guys and I was really impressed by everybody that came in and helped contribute offensively.”
Otzelberger was less impressed by his team’s second-half defense, which allowed the Red Raiders to shoot 53.1 percent after the break while slashing that 21-point deficit to eight in the closing minutes.
“They’re relentless and they’re playing all the way to the final horn,” Otzelberger said. “We need to stay focused on the moment. We need to stay focused on getting the stops late in the game probably better than what we did here today because you know everybody’s gonna keep coming. I mean, we’re in the best league in the country. These are really good teams, really good coaches, so you’ve got to make sure that your focus is (on) the full 40 minutes because everybody’s gonna keep coming at you.”
Curtis Jones added 12 points for ISU and Tamin Lipsey, Milan Momcilovic, and Robert Jones each notched 10. And the Cyclones — who were deemed a No. 3 seed currently for the NCAA Tournament by the selection committee — won’t have a sold-out Hilton Coliseum behind them on Monday. They’ll travel to No. 2 Houston for an 8 p.m. ESPN “Big Monday” tip in a battle of first-place Big 12 teams that like to get down-and-dirty on the defensive end.
“This is what we signed up for and we’ve been working towards since June,” Gilbert said. “So we’re gonna be ready for it.”
