PROVO, Utah – There’s nothing particularly worrisome or shameful about losing at the Marriott Center to BYU, like No. 6 Iowa State did, 79-69, on Feb. 22. The Cougars are ranked 22nd and their only two losses in this building were to No. 2 Houston and No. 4 Arizona. They also have the potential No. 1 pick, A.J. Dybantsa, in June’s NBA Draft. The 18,000 people they pack in here — all hopped up on sugar from the 2-foot donuts they pushed out of the concession stands — don’t make it easy, either.
The hardest thing to do in any college basketball season, aside from perhaps winning six straight neutral-floor games in March and April, is beating good teams on the road. It’s just incredibly difficult.
So, no, this loss is probably more annoying than it is truly damaging for the Cyclones.
But it’s also just a little troublesome.
For a team as talented, accomplished and promising as the Cyclones, the failure to find a higher level of consistency, even in tough spots on the road, stands out. Not just because that’s now four road losses in which Iowa State did not even approach its ceiling, but because it says, I think, something about how Iowa State plays when things are at their most difficult.
That’s not to say things were easy against Kansas and Houston at Hilton Coliseum last Saturday and Monday, but there’s no doubt that it’s not the same as fighting the crowd at Allen Fieldhouse or the Marriott Center nor is it the same as no-showing large portions of the game at Cincinnati and TCU.
Iowa State is a very, very good team. So good, in fact, the NCAA Tournament selection committee deemed the Cyclones a No. 1 seed in its preliminary bracket reveal earlier Saturday. But, right now, Iowa State is not a great team. At least not consistently.
Great teams can still lose in places like Lawrence and Provo, but more often than not they do it while playing close to their best basketball. Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger likes to say that in the Big 12, you can play really well and still lose.
I just don’t think that’s happened yet this season for Iowa State. When they’ve lost, they just haven’t played well, usually with a defense that lacks that top-tier physicality and an offense that gets stuck.
“You don’t want to continue to learn the same lesson,” Otzelberger said.
Which, for the Cyclones, is that if they don’t set the agenda in a game, they’re vulnerable. Especially when Milan Momcilovic floats through a 1-of-5 shooting game and when Blake Buchanan doesn’t get a rebound until the final minute of the first half.
That’s the blessing and the curse for this Iowa State team (23-4, 10-4 Big 12). All its pieces fit so well together and the sum is greater than its parts, but when you start to pull parts away, it becomes a Jenga tower real quick. Each aspect of the operation is so dependent on the other that things can get tough in a hurry when the opposition starts taking things away.
“They brought it to us,” Tamin Lipsey said after a 19-point effort.
Perhaps the most frustrating thing for Iowa State was just the opportunity cost of playing a C-level game at BYU (20-7, 8-6 Big 12).
With losses by Houston and Kansas earlier in the day, Iowa State controlled its own destiny for at least a part of the Big 12 regular-season title. With a primetime game against a top prospect only hours after the committee gave the Cyclones a slight edge for that final No. 1 seed, Iowa State had a chance to make a statement.
Instead, it felt like this team just keeps bumping its head into a ceiling that divides very good and truly great. Which, in this instance, is the ability to play your best when the conditions are the worst.
The Cyclones can still win the Big 12. They can still wrangle a 1-seed. They can still go to the Final Four.
They also can still play better and more consistent basketball.
Whether that’s reason for optimism or trepidation as the regular season winds down, well, I’m not quite sure.
Iowa State columnist Travis Hines has covered the Cyclones for the Des Moines Register and Ames Tribune since 2012. Contact him at thines@amestrib.com or (515) 284-8000. Follow him on X at @TravisHines21.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa State basketball misses its chance at BYU | Hines
Reporting by Travis Hines, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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