Feb 24, 2024; Ames, Iowa, USA; Iowa State Cyclones head coach T.J. Otzelberger reacts during the second half against the West Virginia Mountaineers at James H. Hilton Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-USA TODAY Sports
Iowa State entered Saturday’s Big 12 regular-season finale at Kansas State clinging to hopes of sharing the league title for the first time since 2000-01. The No. 6 Cyclones retained even fainter hopes of attaining the No. 1 seed in next week’s Big 12 Tournament, if extra help from Kansas and Texas Tech could materialize.
But for either of the aforementioned scenarios to remain viable, ISU first needed to beat the reeling Wildcats on Saturday, and instead, the Cyclones fell, 65-58, while suffering just their second loss in the past 10 games.
“For one of the (few) times this year, I just thought we lost focus from everything we need to do to be successful,” ISU head coach T.J. Otzelberger said on the Cyclone Radio Network after the game. “We need to guard the ball, pressure the ball, and turn defense into offense. We didn’t guard the ball the way we needed to.”
The Cyclones (24-7, 13-5) were uncharacteristically outscored in points off turnovers (20-to-11) and fast break points (15-to-2) and trailed Kansas State (18-13, 8-10) by as many as 17 points before reviving to make it a two-possession game a handful of times in the final minutes.
“We were just more careless with the basketball in terms of turnovers,” Otzelberger said. “We took a lot of early (shot) clock long shots, jump shots that — that’s not our formula for success. So I feel like it was attributable more to our focus and not being as focused as we needed to be and continuing to remember what we’ve done to have such a great regular season.”
Curtis Jones led ISU with 16 points off the bench and shot 4-for-10 from 3-point range to reach double figures in scoring for the team-leading 14th consecutive game. Fellow guards Keshon Gilbert and Tamin Lipsey scored 13 points apiece for the Cyclones, who used an 8-0 run to pull within five, at 48-43, with seven minutes remaining but trailed by that margin or greater for the remainder of the game.
“I don’t hang on to today,” Otzelberger said. “I’m really disappointed because I know we’re better than that and we’re capable of much more; the standard’s a lot higher. Still, I feel like it was more of an outlier than a problem mounting or something along those lines, so excited to get back to the practice court, excited to work and fight and compete to be the team we know we are as we move forward.”
ISU had already clinched the No. 2 seed in the Big 12 Tournament and will open postseason play at 6 p.m. Thursday at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.
“The season ain’t gonna go perfect,” Jones said. “In this league, everybody’s good. Just get back to what we do — playing hard defense and getting up good shots, not turning it over as much. I’m excited to play in this Big 12 Tournament. I’ve heard a lot about it and it’ll be a lot of fun.”
Especially if Saturday’s lackluster performance — as Otzelberger suggested — is merely a one-off, and the Cyclones sharpen their focus for potential deep runs both in Kansas City and beyond.
“We’ve got to do a great job getting back to the practice court and make sure that we are the team that we’ve worked to be all year long,” Otzelberger said.
