Big 12 Basketball: Iowa State’s Real Challenge Begins Now
By Nathan Giese
After knocking off No. 1 Oklahoma and No. 4 Kansas in consecutive weeks, Iowa State has shown it’s ready to take over the Big 12, but their real challenge starts now.
Steve Prohm was handed the keys to a brand new used car before this season. The car had some miles on it, but it was still well equipped to get the job done and, with a little love and care, could go for another couple hundred thousand miles.
Thus far, Prohm has taken that car, the Iowa State Cyclones basketball program, and done about as expected. The engine’s running, it’s even won a few drag races with some punk teens at night, but we’re still not quite sure if it can make that long distance trip he got the car for in the first place.
Poor analogy aside, Iowa State’s in a good place right now.
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The Big 12, as expected, is the deepest and most brutal conference in college basketball. Two Final Four favorites are among them, another dark horse candidate to get to the final weekend joins them, a couple tough outs lie in wait and the bottom is ready to pounce on the weak.
Despite that, the Cyclones’ losses in conference, at Texas and Oklahoma and a home loss to Baylor, aren’t exactly resume killers. That’s the strength of the Big 12. Start off slow like Iowa State did and nobody blames you. Incredibly talented teams will beat each other and some games will be a bit surprising when, really, it’s the expected.
Through Jan. 25, Iowa State is tied with Kansas for fourth in the conference as three teams — No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 9 West Virginia and No. 17 Baylor — all share first.
Here’s where the Cyclones can make their mark, though it’s not going to be easy.
Beating Oklahoma and Kansas in back-to-back weeks is impressive, that much is certain. Winning against Kansas is a bit more impressive for the Cyclones, though, because of some of the circumstances surrounding it.
Already with a really thin bench — just 27 minutes from the reserves in each of the last two games — Jameel McKay, team leader in rebounds, field goal percentage and blocks, exited the game with more than five minutes left and did not return. When McKay left, Kansas was leading 56-55. From that point to the end of the game, the Cyclones outscored the Jayhawks by a 30-16 margin.
Monte Morris, the point guard nobody seems to be talking about, continued his display of brilliance by totaling 21 points on 7-of-14 shooting to go along with four rebounds, nine assists and just zero turnovers while playing all 40 minutes.
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Think about that. The point guard who had to deal with Frank Mason and Devonte Graham all night played every single second of the game, got buckets himself but also came up with nine helpers and did not turn the ball over once. Insane doesn’t begin to properly describe that.
For reference, though Buddy Hield had 46 points in that triple-overtime thriller at Kansas, Mason’s defense also forced him into five turnovers.
Morris may have to continue this incredible display, because it doesn’t seem as if Hallice Cooke will be available to help him out any time soon.
Cooke was suspended for a game a little more than a week ago for being late to practice. He was reportedly reinstated for the next game, the Oklahoma win, but did not see the floor. He has played two whole minutes in the last two games. He may have lost his spot in the already short rotation Prohm has instituted this season.
As for the team, beating Kansas and Oklahoma is impressive, the level of quality wins in consecutive weeks that no team in the country will likely be able to match before March, it’s not what’s going to win them the Big 12 title.
And it certainly won’t help them be a legitimate Final Four team.
That will be determined from this point on.
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Iowa State’s already played Oklahoma twice and split the games, so they won’t have to worry about the Sooners until the Big 12 Tournament. However, the Cyclones do meet the Jayhawks again. At Lawrence. Where Kansas has won 36-straight games. With the conference title possibly on the line.
Before that, though, and starting on Saturday, Iowa State faces some difficult competition beginning with a road game at No. 5 Texas A&M, which has won 10 straight games and beat Baylor, the same team Iowa State lost to, by 19 earlier this season.
Nothing gets easier because including that game, six of Iowa State’s final 11 games are on the road. The Cyclones have had two winning road records in the past decade and will need to win at least half of those games to accomplish it again. Hint: it’s important for title chances to win on the road.
To summarize, each of the last 10 national champions have won at least 11 games away from home before the NCAA Tournament, road and neutral games combined.
The Cyclones sit 3-2 on the road and 3-1 on neutral courts so far. In order to reach that figure, they’d have to win five more games away from home, regular season and conference tournament included, and win three true road games to finish above .500 away from home. Both of these are very important to title opportunities.
That’s going to be difficult to accomplish, though. With a short bench, legs begin to get tired as the season goes along and that’s definitely going to be tested as Iowa State still has to play West Press Virginia twice. Suffering one more loss in conference play could be okay for a conference title opportunity, but more than that may just be it for them.
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There’s also another meeting with both Texas (home) and Baylor (road), who have already beaten the Cyclones on top of those two meetings with the Mountaineers and the final game against the Jayhawks.
Prohm’s squad has shown a lot of grit in the last few weeks, but if there’s going to be a time when the used car needs a tune up, or even a complete overhaul, it’ll happen relatively soon.