KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Despite suffering a 21-point loss to Iowa State just days before in the regular-season finale, when asked about facing Iowa State’s defense once again in the second round of the Big 12 tournament, Arizona State guard Moe Odum answered confidently.
“It’s not really a challenge,” Odum said after defeating Baylor in the first round.
Killyan Toure and the rest of the Cyclones took that personally.
While Iowa State had some hiccups in the first half of its previous meeting with the Sun Devils, the Cyclones enjoyed a more complete, emphatic win over Arizona State, with a wire-to-wire 91-42 win on March 11.
“They said it would not be a problem for them, not be a challenge for them to get pressured on offense,” Toure said. “We just had to have our mindset right to kill them and we did a good job with that today.”
The 49-point margin of victory is the largest in Big 12 Tournament history.
Iowa State led, 45-16, at halftime.
Milan Momcilovic led Iowa State with a game-high 21 points. Joshua Jefferson had a 20-point, 12-rebound double-double. Blake Buchanan added a season-high 17 points. Tamin Lipsey chipped in 11 points.
For Arizona State (17-16), Santiago Trouet had a 13-point, 10-rebound double-double.
The Cyclones (26-6) will face 4-seed Texas Tech on March 12 in the Big 12 quarterfinals. Until then, here are three takeaways from Iowa State’s second-round win:
Iowa State’s disruptive and dominant defense
After a scoreless couple of minutes by both teams, the Cyclones struck first and started to get going offensively.
Arizona State, though, never found its footing.
The Cyclones generated 23 turnovers for the second game in a row, which led to 25 points on the other end. Arizona State had 15 turnovers by halftime.
The Sun Devils suffered an eight-minute scoring drought in the first half, and they never got comfortable.
Arizona State’s 42 points were the fewest by a Cyclone opponent this season.
The Sun Devils were held to shooting 31.9% overall and 1-of-19 (5.3%) from beyond the arc.
Odum, the Sun Devils’ leading scorer whose pregame words stuck with Toure, had just two points before fouling out.
“Just started with (Toure), that was sort of our challenge to him from TJ, to just pressure from the start of the game and pick them up full court,” Iowa State guard Tamin Lipsey said. “Making them uncomfortable and the ball screen, ‘5s’ did a great job as well, just being up to the level and making them get rid of it. I don’t think they were comfortable at any time in the game.”
Iowa State was efficient offensively
The Cyclones’ success on defense translated to confidence and similar assertiveness on the scoring end.
After a quiet couple of minutes, the Cyclones quickly got into a groove and hardly looked back from there. While their defensive effort was suffocating, they had the attention to detail offensively to complement it.
Iowa State shot 50 percent or better for the first time since the Feb. 7 win against Baylor.
The Cyclones had four players score in double figures, but the entire team shot 50.8% overall and 10-of-25 (40%) from beyond the arc.
Iowa State assisted on 18-of-33 baskets, but the Cyclones got plenty of opportunities in transition and on fast breaks, often attacking with numbers and making the sound choice to finish if the ball wasn’t stopped or finding the open man waiting in the wings.
Dominykas Pleta had a dunk in the first half that helped spark an 18-0 run that allowed the Cyclones to lead by as much as 30 in the first half, and the rest of the game was a mere formality from there — although the Cyclones didn’t play like it.
“That’s how we plan to play and that’s what we’re looking forward to playing like going forward, throwing that first punch and being aggressive,” Iowa State freshman Jamarion Batemon said. “Then, just sharing the ball on offense and moving how we did. It was a great experience first game.”
Blake Buchanan, Joshua Jefferson shine in the post for Iowa State
Iowa State managed to outscore Arizona State in the paint in its previous meeting, but it was a much more clean, efficient showing inside in Wednesday’s rematch.
The Cyclones had issues with finishing at the basket in in the March 7 regular-season finale, converting on just 10-of-21 layups.
Iowa State went an improved 14-of-21 (66.7%) on layups and dunks in the Big 12 second-round victory. It was a more dominant showing, overall, inside the paint, with the Cyclones outscoring the Sun Devils there, 44-26.
Blake Buchanan and Joshua Jefferson had a big hand in that success in the paint, setting the tone with their assertiveness on both ends of the court.
Buchanan had a season-high 17 points. It was the most he’s scored since an 18-point showing against Florida while still at Virginia on Nov. 10, 2023, the second game of his college career. He also had six boards, with half of them coming on the offensive glass, and had two steals.
“When we’re able to play through him in the short roll and he’s got his floater, that’s a huge weapon for us,” Cyclones coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “I loved how he got out in transition and ran the lanes today and was able to finish some plays. His motor and energy on the offensive glass has taken us to a whole other level. He’s had some monster games on the O-boards, and that’s something that’s huge for our team.”
Jefferson had a 20-point, 12-rebound double-double, with three steals, and shot 7-of-9 from inside the arc.
He’s scored in double figures in every single game this season.
“When you can be consistently a factor for your team, that’s when people love you, so just making sure that I’m not slipping in my department,” Jefferson said. “Also trying to play hard defensively, also get as many rebounds as I can. When I’m doing that, I think we’ll be good.”
Eugene Rapay covers Iowa State athletics for the Des Moines Register. Contact Eugene at erapay@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @erapay5
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: 3 takeaways from Iowa State basketball’s win over Arizona State
Reporting by Eugene Rapay, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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