Yet again the last five minutes…
- Thread starter dahliaclone
- Start date
These were my thoughts as well. They have the horses. They're young. Not sure hurley is a very good coach either. But he is among the cry-babiest of them. A rung or two below a Fran
I'm not gonna bash on Heise but him finding his confidence is probably going to be the key to making a truly deep run in March. He plays a lot of minutes to not be impacting the box score much.
Him doimg things like shutting down someone like Kam Jones isn't going to show up in the box score either.
A run in March will need everyone healthy, the team playing well, good matchups and some luck.
Your first mistake was reading the game thread.
For this game, it was their young big fouling out. That allowed us to play Jefferson at the 5 and Watson at the 4. Switch everything and all of a sudden their high ball screen wasn’t effective. If their FR big was still in, we couldn’t have done that.
The other big (#9) got four fouls and looked gas late and could cut off ISU's action in the lane.
IMO if Jefferson played with the intensity and focus that Lipsey does, he’d be a lottery pick. No doubt he’s a good player, but I don’t think anyone can argue that he lacks focus at times.
Without him, we only have 3 guards and right now all 3 start. You need Heise to give the 3 starters rest. Obviously we’d like to see him be more of a contributor on offense, but he’s going to have a role regardless.
I’m saying that they really didn’t have another post up threat. Not even with Lipsey guarding them.
That has to be at least the 4th or 5th game we've won in the last 5 or less minutes. Looked like we were going to do it again at WVU. But, that's what strong-minded teams do. We focus more and expend more energy at the end on D. Like today, the other teams are held almost scoreless. I attribute a lot of that to the endurance and relationships the team builds during the summers in addition, of course, to the coaching. Having watched Houston and Auburn today, they seem to have similar focus and energy to ISU.
Wait…by all the disagrees I guess you CAN argue that?? Did not think that was a controversial opinion.
Ydkb.
My bored a$$ went through our 'closer' games recently (Iowa, Marquette, at CU, at ASU and vs KU) and heres the final stanza for each of those games...trying to show how our defense goes to an 11.
In games that were close in the second half:
At Iowa:
Marquette:
At Colorado:
Kansas:
At Arizona State:
Long story short:
In games that were close in the second half:
At Iowa:
- 3:16 left in the game, tied 74-74
- 15-6 run to end game (89-80)
- Iowa went 2-7 to finish the game but 0-5 before two late layups with game decided
- Iowa State went 8-10 from free throw line (80%)
Marquette:
- 8:03 left in the game, tied 61-61
- 20-9 run to end the game (81-70)
- ISU went on 14-0 run
- ISU went 6-7 from free throw line (85%)
At Colorado:
- Up 1 with 4:59 left (64-63)
- 15-6 run to end the game (79-69)
- ISU went 7-9 from free throw line (78%)
- CU went 3-9 in final 5:00
Kansas:
- Up 5 with 5:00 left (57-52)
- 17-5 run to end the game (74-57)
- KU went 2-6 in final 5:00
- ISU went 7-12 from FT line (64%)
At Arizona State:
- Down 58-57 with 5:15 left
- 19-3 run to end the game
- ISU went 7-8 from FT line (88%)
- ASU went 1-6 from the field last 5:15
Long story short:
- 86-29 runs in these games to finish them off.
- Hitting FTs when needed
That was a major segment, for sure.
Expand to post-timeout, and note Jefferson’s contribution.
Assist on Watson dunk.
Defensive rebound.
Assist on Gilbert 3.
Rebound after Jihad missed 3.
Yeah, you’re an amazing ISU fan! Congrats! Maybe someday I can be as cool as you? Who am I kidding.. no chance!
Steal and outlet to Gilbert flagrant. Not sure if that gets scored an assist.
This group has only been playing together for so long. IYAKB you would know the game is about matchups, flow and knowing your role. Outside of Curtis you could argue Jefferson has been our most consistent.
To come in with those three guards and immodestly know how to balance deferring and dominating isn’t that simple.
Even when he hasn’t put up 18-30 he’s showing up as the most content rebounder, and being incredibly versatile with steals and assists.
It’s lame low effort takes to call out effort. Particularly for more athletic players and chalking it up to heart or lack of focus.
Kid’s been a baller since jump and more than any of us imagined.
Yeah…. THAT WOULD BE HILARIOUS!!! Great idea! So cool! Nothing more fun than shaming other Cyclone fans…. am I right?
I was going to start this list…. but then realized like 70% of the posts on today’s game thread would have to be included. That’s too much for me to type.
I agree though…. we should mock all the other fans that are critical in any way about the team when they aren’t playing well. That would be so funny, and would help a LOT!
I do want to say on Jefferson…. I for one doesn’t believe he’s only good enough to dominate when the other team’s starters get in foul trouble and aren’t in the game. I think he’s a LOT better than that.
