*** Official #12 IOWA STATE vs #18 Baylor Game(Day) Thread ***

[bosco]

Slaps hands together you ready for another morning of... Healing?

This was going to be a close game based on the metrics and it wasn't until towards the end.The game took a strange trip to get there.

As usual a team who is shooting below their expectations gets right vs us. Baylor shooting 31% in conference at home shoots 53%. Baylor is a good shooting team so to be expected they weren't going to shoot as poorly but if you even apply their season average of 42% that's 6 less points. Obviously significant in a close game.

Iowa State was not good or defense. But they weren't bad either. Take in account they were playing a top 5 B12 offense I considered their performance above average.

It was our offense that fell. And the major contributor to that was King. He has been widely inconsistent in conference play. From good, to invisible, to a liability, to the best player on the floor. For us to be the best version of ourselves King doesn't need to the best player on the floor, but he does need to contribute on the offensive side. I feel he's our third best option in the half court and if he can't score then Watson needs to play more.

People will say our FT shooting is what loss the game but we all knew our free throw shooting sucks. It's no surprise. We aren't magically going to become good as a team. This needs to be taken into account in future games scheming as well as handicapping.

This loss didn't hurt but the Texas game looms. They are figuring things out and we'll need a complete effort in all phases to win. The team has yet to do that on the road.

 

[ClonerJams]

Lipseys shoulder has to be bugging him more than people think. It was odd he wasn't trying to shoot it more, especially in the first half.

 

[rosshm16]

Do we think Lipsey is hurt and playing through it? The previous two games before this one masked it a bit with the wins and the jubilation but he's been really unaggressive by Lipsey standards ever since sitting the @TCU game. Forget about scoring, he didn't take a shot in the first half last night.

But check this out:

The shot clock was at 0.0, but the stadium clock was at 0.1. Which is easier for Milan to see?

In real-time I doubt he could even notice a discrepancy of 0.1 seconds. Maybe the buzzer/light going off unexpectedly early would be a distraction, but he hit the shot.

There were lots of officiating blunders in this game but I don't think the clock management here was one of them.

 

[Cyinthenorth]

Do we think Lipsey is hurt and playing through it? The previous two games before this one masked it a bit with the wins and the jubilation but he's been really unaggressive by Lipsey standards ever since sitting the @TCU game. Forget about scoring, he didn't take a shot in the first half last night.

I think there could be a little alpha jostling between he and Gilbert. I hope not, but wouldn't be surprised.

 

[Die4Cy]

Really? He was steaming mad almost the whole game.
I have never seen him like that.

They had lost three in a row prior to ISU coming in. Baylor was a tad desperate. Congrats to them though, we put them in a hole and they clawed their way out of it at the very end. Life in the Big 12 should come with a heart health advisory.

 

[rosshm16]

I think there could be a little alpha jostling between he and Gilbert. I hope not, but wouldn't be surprised.

That seems really speculative and unlikely. If that were the situation, why would Tamin not shoot for an entire half of a big road game?

 

[Cloned4Life]

Do we think Lipsey is hurt and playing through it? The previous two games before this one masked it a bit with the wins and the jubilation but he's been really unaggressive by Lipsey standards ever since sitting the @TCU game. Forget about scoring, he didn't take a shot in the first half last night.

Was wondering that too. Credit to him for playing through it. He’s one tough dude, and doesn’t complain or make excuses. I absolutely love his demeanor in the court, proud he’s a Cyclone!

 

[Halincandenza]

Yes. Really.

Anyone with any sense would know that Jerome Tang is a nut job so wouldn't be surprised by his latest issues.

Well that’s his right hand man. They are both nut jobs

 

[Die4Cy]

It was our offense that fell. And the major contributor to that was King. He has been widely inconsistent in conference play. From good, to invisible, to a liability, to the best player on the floor. For us to be the best version of ourselves King doesn't need to the best player on the floor, but he does need to contribute on the offensive side. I feel he's our third best option in the half court and if he can't score then Watson needs to play more.

Tre King's inconsistency is a bit baffling. But ISU isn't dependent on getting 15 from him to win every night either. The Baylor game was sort of a cluster fark from jump, a weird one all the way around. I really want to get Texas now though, I had us 1-1 on the week and it will take a great effort to get it done in Austin now.

 

[clonedude]

As CW said postgame... Baylor tried to hand this game to us on a silver platter time and time again.... and we couldn't take it from them. All on us. We played like s**t, and deserved to lose.

Time to move on. If we don't improve FTs though, we could easily be 1 and done in the NCAA Tourney. Most games come down to FTs in the end.

 

[jmb]

Lack of making free throws and shooting early in the game costs us the win. Love the fact we came back to have a shot at winning it in the end. But we cannot continue to shoot from distance as poorly as we have for many games and keep winning. Shooting 19 of 32 from the line for 59% is just not good enough, nor is 5 of 14 from 3-point line. in sports like in life, little things mean a lot, do enough of the little things they add up to big things. ISU just did not do enough of those tonight.

I think the rebounding was curiously bad last night.

 

[clonedude]

I think the rebounding was curiously bad last night.

We didn't box out all night... horrible rebounding effort.

 

[bosco]

Tre King's inconsistency is a bit baffling. But ISU isn't dependent on getting 15 from him to win every night either. The Baylor game was sort of a cluster fark from jump, a weird one all the way around. I really want to get Texas now though, I had us 1-1 on the week and it will take a great effort to get it done in Austin now.

Interesting that Torvik has Texas as the "easier" game than Baylor. I feel the Texas game is going to be much harder and I think Vegas is going to have it as a larger spread.

Edit: just looked and it appears before the Baylor game we were a small favorite vs Texas but now after we are a small dog.

 

[madguy30]

As CW said postgame... Baylor tried to hand this game to us on a silver platter time and time again.... and we couldn't take it from them. All on us. We played like s**t, and deserved to lose.

Time to move on. If we don't improve FTs though, we could easily be 1 and done in the NCAA Tourney. Most games come down to FTs in the end.

This might happen even if they play well.

Just gotta get there first and let things fall where they may.

 

[clonedude]

This might happen even if they play well.

Just gotta get there first and let things fall where they may.

Agree. No sense in worrying about that now.... but it is a GLARING weakness. FT shooting is critical at the end of most games.

 

[CloniesForLife]

We didn't box out all night... horrible rebounding effort.

I thought the 2nd half was much better

 

[Die4Cy]

Interesting that Torvik has Texas as the "easier" game than Baylor. I feel the Texas game is going to be much harder and I think Vegas is going to have it as a larger spread.

Iowa State is 2-19 all time in Austin. I think we may have that programmed into our subconscious when thinking about playing the Horns. As consistently weird games in Waco have been over the years, playing in Austin is a place where historically we just haven't given a good effort a lot of the time for whatever reason. But Bevo is the tenth place team in this league this year, and I do believe this ISU team is mentally tough enough to go in there and steal one.

 

[Trice]

But check this out:

View attachment 123326
The shot clock was at 0.0, but the stadium clock was at 0.1. Which is easier for Milan to see?

The ball hit his hands with well under 1 second left on the clock. At that point, he's not watching the clock in any meaningful sense - he's simply firing up a shot as fast as he can and hoping it's in time.

 

[clonedude]

I thought the 2nd half was much better

Maybe slightly better, not much better.

 

[bosco]

Agree. No sense in worrying about that now.... but it is a GLARING weakness. FT shooting is critical at the end of most games.

I think if you look at how many points you're getting from the FT line vs your percentage it'll make it palatable. If we go to the line alot even though we might be shooting poorly the sheer volume may compensate. In late stages of the game hope it's CJ or Mom there.