No. 2 Iowa State figured out how to dominate the second half. Now the undefeated Cyclones just have to figure out how to get off to a better start.
Iowa State (16-0, 3-0 Big 12) will have the opportunity to do that Tuesday when it travels to Lawrence, Kansas, to face the Jayhawks (11-5, 1-2) in conference play.
Iowa State trailed for most of the first half before coming back to beat Oklahoma State at home 83-71 on Saturday.
“We got lucky in a couple of halftime plays — maybe we were down or just not at our best — and we found a way to get out of the locker room and get going fast,” Iowa State coach TJ Otzelberger said.
The Cyclones are off to the best start in school history. Otzelberger said his team is getting used to getting the other team’s best effort every game.
“We have a lot of great players in our league and our league is the best in the country,” he said. “So naturally, they all want to look their best, and I think we see that. Also, I think it’s a psychological thing when they see that number.”
The Cyclones are one of five undefeated NCAA Division I teams in the country.
A bounce-back game from forward Milan Momcilovic helped the Cyclones stay that way Saturday.
The junior forward failed to make a 3-pointer for the first time this season last week against Baylor. His three attempts were a season low.
He came out inspired on Saturday to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
He made six of 10 shots from the field and finished 3 of 5 from the 3-point line. One of his misses was a long heave as the clock expired at halftime. Momcilovic scored 16 of his 18 points in the first half.
Joshua Jefferson led the Cyclones with 19 points. The senior forward leads the Cyclones with 17.7 points per game, followed by Momcilovic with 17.6.
The Jayhawks are coming off an 86-75 loss on the road at West Virginia.
Kansas led by eight with 14 minutes left before the Mountaineers went on a 16-0 run to put the game away.
“We were very poor,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “They pushed us back, our guards, on the floor, in the post, and we didn’t put up much resistance. They took advantage of it, and obviously we didn’t score at the other end. They were tougher, we never stopped them all night – they still had 39 in the first half. We never stopped them or made them play badly.”
The Jayhawks are led by Darryn Peterson, who is considered one of the top picks in the NBA draft.
The freshman is averaging 22.6 points per game and 4.7 rebounds in seven games while dealing with leg injuries. He had 23 points and six rebounds in the loss to the Mountaineers.
Tre White averages 15.2 points and seven rebounds per game. He had 18 points against West Virginia.
White stopped the Mountaineers’ run with eight minutes remaining, but the Jayhawks hadn’t scored in seven minutes by then.
“Once you come in with that amount of energy and stuff like that, shots start falling, rebounds start getting missed,” White said of the collapse. “He was kind of the defensive end that made the battle difficult.”
Sophomore guard Elmarko Jackson knows the Jayhawks need to get their act together soon.
“We have a really good team coming into Iowa State,” Jackson said. “I just have to focus on that, get back to the way we play basketball and just be tougher.”
–Field level media
