IOWA CITY, Iowa – Curtis Jones knows how good the group around him really is, even if most of the attention at the top of the college basketball world is largely elsewhere.
The final six minutes in Carver-Hawkeye Arena proved that Thursday night.
No. No. 3 Iowa State rallied from a 13-point deficit Thursday to pick up an 89-80 win over Iowa — which played about as good a game as it could have had before sliding down the stretch. That pushed the Cyclones to 8-1 on the season with conference play just around the corner.
While there are plenty of other great teams both in the Big 12 and elsewhere, Jones pulls no punches when it comes to ranking him and his teammates. They belong at the very top.
“I don’t feel any pressure about it. I am confident,” said Jones. “Yes, we are one of the best teams in the country.
“I feel like it shows. We have the talent, we have the staff, we have the solidarity. I feel like we have what it takes to go far, and I’m really confident in our abilities.”
Iowa State rallies to beat Iowa
Iowa gave the Cyclones just about everything they had on Thursday night. And for most of the game, it looked like it was going to work.
The Hawkeyes, who made seven three-pointers in the first twenty minutes, jumped out to a thirteen-point lead just before halftime. Every time the Cyclones struck back in the second half, Iowa responded to stay one step ahead. But unlike the Lahaina Civic Center in Maui last month, Iowa State held its ground.
The Cyclones finally took the lead in the final six minutes of the game as Iowa went cold. The Hawkeyes made only two field goals from that point on, both of which came in garbage time, and Iowa State took full advantage. It was a slow battle – they didn’t take the lead for the first time until three minutes into the second half – but they pulled out the nine-point victory.
Jones dropped in a game-high 23 points off the bench for Iowa State while shooting 5-of-8 from behind the arc. Joshua Jefferson added 19 points and 10 rebounds, and Dishon Jackson chipped in 12 points.
“That’s one of the best teams in the country, if not the best right now. We were with them for a long time,” said Iowa’s Payton Sandfort, who finished with 13 points and five rebounds in the loss. “Props to the way they play…Obviously they have energy the whole game. They’ve got some guys that can make plays, they’ve got shot makers, they’ve got rebounders, they can defend… They’re going to win a lot of games.”
How far can Iowa State actually go?
With the non-conference schedule behind them, except for the games against Omaha and Morgan State in the coming days, head coach TJ Otzelberger will now be tasked with guiding the Cyclones through the top basketball conference.
The Big 12 can ruin any team, no matter how good. Just look at Kansas last year, which started the season as the top-ranked team in the country and then lost nine of its last 18 games in conference play. But Iowa State, which currently has the best ranking in program history, may be in the best position to get a shot at what would be their first regular season title since 2001.
The Cyclones’ only loss this season came after a game-winning bucket of Auburn at the Maui Invitational last month. Otherwise, things are handled when necessary. The Cyclones led almost all the way as they defeated Kam Jones and then No. 5 Marquette last week, and they cruised to a nearly 30-point win over Big 12 foe Colorado in Hawaii.
The Cyclones also don’t really have a single star, like Duke Cooper Flagg has or Kansas Hunter Dickinson. All five of the Cyclones’ starters are averaging double figures, led by guard Keshon Gilbert’s 17.4 points per game. He recorded nine points and seven rebounds on Thursday night.
They can and should turn to anyone at any time. Otzelberger attributed this successful strategy in part to the fact that they brought back nine players from last year’s team.
“I think it’s dangerous because you can only put your best defender on one guy,” Jones said. “We have a lot of weapons… I really trust everyone with the ball, and that’s what I think makes us so dangerous. If you have a weak link in the defense, I think we will work on that.”
Iowa State will undoubtedly find itself in similar situations to Thursday night in the coming months. But now that they’ve “weathered the storm” and won a big game, Jones and the Cyclones know what they’re capable of. It’s just a matter of achieving that over and over again.
“We didn’t break up [tonight]which happens to a lot of programs when things start to go bad, especially with the pressure the outside puts on us,” Jones said. “I don’t really think we feel that pressure, but that’s a credit to our experience.”
