Jan 4, 2025; Ames, Iowa, USA; Baylor Bears head coach Scott Drew and guard VJ Edgecombe (7) talk during a timeout against the Iowa State Cyclones during the first half at James H. Hilton Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images
AMES – No. 3 Iowa State had no troubles handling No. 25 Baylor on Saturday at Hilton Coliseum, as the Cyclones rolled to a 74-55 win over the Bears.
T.J. Otzelberger’s team held Baylor to shooting marks under 30 percent while running away from Scott Drew’s team, and Drew came away with high praise.
“(We’re) disappointed, we shot 29% (from the field) and 24% (from the 3-point line), but I think you always got to credit the defense,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said. “T.J. has got not only a really good team, but an experienced team, and they’ve done a great job growing together. And I’ve said it all year, I think them and Auburn have been the two best teams in the country.”
The win pushed Iowa State to 12-1 on the season with a 2-0 start to Big 12 play, and it has cemented itself as a top team in college basketball.
Otzelberger’s team has stayed relentless on the defensive side of the ball as it has been since he arrived, but has improved drastically on offense.
The Cyclones’ 74 points scored on Saturday is its lowest total of the season. Before the game, it had not yet failed to score 80 points in any game it has played all year.
“I think that’s what makes them better, though, than last year,” Drew said after the game. “I think they have more weapons, and especially on the interior – I think is a little more offensive-efficient. I thought last year was good – really good defensively – but they have an inside-outside punch for sure. And there’s a reason they’re off to the start they are.”
The Cyclones forced Baylor into six steals and out-rebounded the Bears by 12 (34-22) on defensive boards. As has become routine, they got after the ball.
That trait is something that Otzelberger takes a lot of pride in, and fittingly did so on Saturday while Iowa State honored the ’99-’00 and ’00-’01 men’s basketball teams during halftime of the game.
“We had talked with our team, we had watched film on some of their games and clinching the conference championship on Friday,” Otzelberger said. “So it was really important for us to honor that group appropriately, to come out and be at our best, especially defensively, because that was a team, and those were guys that left it on the line, dove for loose balls, rebounded like crazy, and played extremely hard.
“So in order for us to do the best job honoring those guys, we really wanted to be focused defensively, to be at our best,” Otzelberger said. “And I thought, you know, in many stretches of the game, we did that, there’s a couple lapses, but was proud of our guys for appropriately honoring those teams.”
Iowa State will continue to fine tune its motor with another 18 games of Big 12 play left, and that will give a better idea to how true Drew’s comments are.
But if it looks anything like Saturday did, it will be an extremely memorable year for Cyclone fans.
