Iowa State Cyclones forward Robert Jones (12) lays up the ball around West Virginia Mountaineers guard Kerr Kriisa (3)during the first half in the Big-12 conference showdown of an NCAA college basketball at Hilton Coliseum on Feb. 24, 2024, in Ames, Iowa. © Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK
AMES — Robert Jones made the steal, then swiftly surveyed the court.
The Iowa State forward then made a snap decision to go full steam ahead in transition.
The result — a coast-to-coast layup by the 6-10 senior — helped the No. 6 Cyclones close the first half of Saturday’s tense game against last-place West Virginia with a flourish. And every basket counted as ISU (21-6, 10-4 Big 12) used a late 14-0 surge to eventually secure a 71-64 triumph before 14,267 fans at Hilton Coliseum.
“I caught the ball, I saw nothing but opportunity, so I was like, ‘OK, I’d be dumb not to take it,’” said Jones, who matched foul trouble-plagued teammate Keshon Gilbert with a game-high three steals to help the Cyclones win for the eighth time in the past 10 games. “So I just pushed the break and ended up getting a basket.”
Jones went 2-for-3 from both the field and the free throw line and was one of five Cyclones to secure four or more rebounds in the game. Point guard Tamin Lipsey scored a team-best 14 points, Curtis Jones added 12 points and Jackson Paveletzke contributed nine in a Big 12 season-high 16 minutes off the bench. His expanded on-court opportunities came in part because of Gilbert’s foul problems that limited him to eight points in 25 minutes.
“(Paveletzke) continues to stay ready and today with a few bumps and bruises and Keshon’s foul trouble, we really needed to count on him, and he stepped up in a major way,” ISU head coach T.J. Otzelberger said.
The struggling Mountaineers (9-18, 4-10) tested — and at times, bested — the Cyclones’ trademark toughness. They erased a 10-point halftime deficit and took a 51-50 lead on Kobe Johnson’s 3-point basket with 9:05 remaining.
But seven of West Virginia’s 23 turnovers came during ISU’s ensuing and decisive 14-0 run that effectively sealed the win.
“We kind of lost our poise in some situations, which led to the end result,” Mountaineers head coach Josh Eilert said. “So we lost by seven, but they got 14 more field goal (attempts) and that’s hard to overcome on the road, especially against a team as good as Iowa State is.”
The Cyclones outscored West Virginia 29-to-8 in points off turnovers and remain second nationally in defensive turnover percentage according to KenPom’s advanced analytics.
“(We) really just locked in on defense,” said Lipsey, who sank his only two 3-point tries while dishing out a game-high six assists. “That’s what we were trying to do the whole game, but unfortunately didn’t come out as intense as we wanted to (be) on the defensive end.”
ISU’s defensive intensity met the moment when it counted the most. The Cyclones held the Mountaineers scoreless for six minutes during their game-winning 14-0 run.
“I felt like in the first half we were a set slow (and) early in the second half we were a step slow,” said Otzelberger, whose team remains alone in the second place in the Big 12 standings. “We fed off the crowd’s energy, for sure, in that stretch and we generated turnovers, we were able to get stops and string them together, and that’s when we’re at our best.”
Robert Jones is usually at his best while patrolling the paint, but he proved on Saturday he can put the ball on the floor and drive it the distance, as well — despite how odd it may have looked as he sprinted down the court.
“I thought he was gonna pass it to me the whole time,” Lipsey said. “I was just running down the middle and he was just taking it coast-to-coast. I love to see the aggressiveness from him.”
Jones nestled his other four points into the final splurge, as well, which proved that when ISU doesn’t play its best game overall, it can recover and secure a pivotal win.
“It just speaks to our determination,” Jones said. “It speaks to how we guard the ball, what we want to do every time we step on the court, and that’s guarding the ball, getting stops on defense and turning our defense into offense. We were slow to do that (Saturday) but I’m glad we found a way to get it done at the end of the game.”
