Iowa State Cyclones center Audi Crooks (55) looks for a shot around Baylor Bears forward Madison Bartley (3) during the second quarter in the Big-12 conference matchup at Hilton Coliseum on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024, in Ames, Iowa. © Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK
KANSAS CITY – Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly will refer back to his old adage, ‘playing the Iowa State way,’ throughout every season he coaches in Ames.
The message is simple – playing the type of basketball that his team’s play, and focusing on doing what they do well right, will set them up for success. That’s what the No. 4 Cyclones will look for Saturday, as they face No. 5 Baylor in the Big 12 tournament quarterfinals.
“This goes back to the same thing of just control what you can and you play as hard as you can play, as smart as you can play… play your style of play,” Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly said. “I think that’s the biggest thing when you get into postseason. Don’t let the other guy dictate how the game is played. If you play the way you play and they’re better, shake their hand, and if you let them impose their will on you, then that’s a problem.”
Iowa State took down Baylor in its lone regular season matchup – a 66-63 win in January that saw the Cyclones down by 13 points at the end of the first quarter.
The Cyclones chipped away at the lead, and won each of the final three quarters in the game at Hilton Coliseum.
“The whole theory of, ‘it’s hard to beat someone three times’ came from a coach that beat someone twice, and lost the third time,” Fennelly said. “That’s probably where that came from. I think beating anyone is hard. And I mean, we’re playing a top 20 team. I mean, we beat them on January 13. That seems like – well, it’s two months ago. I think at least you know what they’re going to be. Our kids got to see them play today. So there are no surprises. It’s just a matter of, you know, when you get into the postseason, does a ball bounce your way? Does the call go your way? You know, and that’s, that’s why they call it madness.”
Fennelly leveraged a challenge to his team late in the year to finish out its final four games with at least three wins.
He figured that a 3-1 record over the remaining games would set his team up to be in a good position to be selected for the NCAA Tournament come Selection Sunday.
Not only did Iowa State finish 4-0, but the stretch included a road win against No. 15 Kansas State, significantly boosting his team’s resume.
“I think it was really important and you hope that it carries over,” Fennelly said. “Even if it doesn’t – showing up is a skill and finishing is a skill. Even if tomorrow doesn’t go great or the next one doesn’t go great, they can always reflect on, ‘Hey, we had a huge task in front of us for two weeks. We focused for two weeks and this is what we accomplished.’ Hopefully it’s a memory for them. It doesn’t always work. There’s no guarantee that if you work hard you get rewarded, but I can guarantee if you don’t work hard, you’re not getting anything.”
That’s not to say the 4-0 stretch outweighs the importance of success in March. Fennelly – and his team – all know that.
But when the ball is tipped on Saturday (11 a.m. ESPN+), anything can happen. He just wants his team to see where the work translates, and each win elevates that from here on out.
“Hopefully, more so than what it carries over for basketball,” Fennelly said. “I hope it carries over for them to say, ‘alright, we made a collective commitment to really buy in for two weeks, and look what happened now.’ Yeah, it worked out great. So you can play that card now, but I hope it is something that they remember way beyond the end of the season. And for a while.”
