Feb 19, 2024; Houston, Texas, USA; Iowa State Cyclones forward Tre King (0) grabs a rebound during the second half against the Houston Cougars at Fertitta Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
Iowa State matched Houston’s toughness on ESPN’s Big Monday. The No. 6 Cyclones even made an array of clutch shots against the No. 2 Cougars. But falling behind by 13 points early put ISU in a hole it could never climb out of Monday in a 73-65 loss to Houston in a sold-out Fertitta Center.
“It was tough,” Cyclone head coach T.J. Otzelberger said on the Cyclone Radio Network after the game. “They do a great job here getting out to leads and building that momentum and certainly they were all to do that. We knew it was gonna be important that we value the basketball and tried to avoid early turnovers and not putting ourselves into a (big) deficit, but they’re a great defensive club. They do a great job and we weren’t able to quite (deal with) that at the start and put us in a tough spot when we were always trying to climb back in.”
ISU (20-6, 9-4 Big 12) never led in the game, but trailed by just three points, 28-25, early in the second half after a Tamin Lipsey layup — his only field goal of the game.
The Cougars (23-3, 10-3) would swiftly stretch their lead back to three possessions before Cyclone guard Curtis Jones drilled a 3-pointer with 11:45 left to make the score, 46-41.
“They’re physical, they’re tough,” said Jones, who went 3-for-5 from the 3-point line. “But I think we’re just as good. It was just a dogfight.”
Keshon Gilbert led ISU with 17 points on 6-for-10 shooting. He drilled three 3-pointers along with Jones and forward Tre King, who went 3-for-3 from beyond the arc.
King, a 6-8 senior, is 9-for-21 from 3-point range in the past seven games after going 3 of 16 from long range earlier in the season.
“Once we got settled in and found our rhythm offensively, we did a really good job,” said King, who also grabbed a game-high eight rebounds.
The Cyclones outrebounded the Cougars on both ends of the floor, crafting a 39-to-30 edge in total boards as well as a 13-to-8 margin on the offensive glass.
That ability to keep one of the country’s top rebounding teams at bay helped ISU stay within striking distance.
“We knew that the rebounding thing was gonna be a big part of giving ourselves a chance to win this thing and our guys did a great job with it,” Otzelberger said.
King and Jones each notched 13 points for ISU, which lost for just the second time in the past nine games.
The Cyclones were outscored 20-9 in points off turnovers and allowed the Cougars to strip away 13 steals.
“One of the biggest thing we pride ourselves on is having our offense come from our defense,” King said. “I think we failed to capitalize on the few turnovers we did force and stuff like that, but credit them for really taking care of the ball and being prepared for the pressure, because in the first game, we did a really great job, especially in the first half of turning them over when we were in Ames. So I think the energy is definitely a factor. Being in an arena like this where everyone’s on top of you and it’s loud and the sound really bounces off the walls at you, it does kind of get deafening at times, but I think we did a really good job of settling in. When things did get hard for us, we jus couldn’t make it up.”
It doesn’t get easier going forward, but ISU will get floundering West Virginia on Saturday at home, while Houston must face Baylor on the road on Saturday.
“Our guys take a lot of pride in their preparation and getting ready to play,” Otzelberger said. “Excited to get back in front of our fans. So appreciative of them and ready to protect our home court come Saturday.”
