No. 10 Iowa State looks to stay hot and stay atop the Big 12 Conference standings when it hosts dangerous Texas Tech on Saturday afternoon in Ames, Iowa.
It’s the only contest of the regular season between the teams and could help to either cement Iowa State as a high seed in the NCAA Tournament or propel the Red Raiders back into the Top 25.
The Cyclones (19-5, 8-3 Big 12) head home after a gritty 68-59 win at Cincinnati on Tuesday. Tamin Lipsey and Curtis Jones led Iowa State with 15 points each, the latter coming off the bench to help jumpstart the offense.
“We find a way to get good shots after they score,” Jones said after the win. “We don’t really care who’s scoring the ball. We’re just looking for the good shots. We’re definitely very happy where we’re at right now.
“We want to stay happy, which means every game is a big game. We have to go 1-0 every game.”
Defense was the difference for the Cyclones against Cincinnati, as Iowa State forced 25 turnovers which it converted into 26 points. The Cyclones also held Cincinnati to 38 percent shooting from the floor and forged a 36-14 edge in points in the paint.
Keshon Gilbert and Robert Jones added 12 points apiece for Iowa State, which has won three straight games and six of its past seven.
“Our guys, for the most part, have been able to keep the focus on the task at hand and what’s right in front of them,” Iowa State coach TJ Otzelberger said Thursday. “When you can do that, you put all your effort, energy into the next game, practice, you can do OK. This group’s had a good mindset of ‘let’s just worry about the next thing’ as opposed to trying to get ahead.”
The Red Raiders (18-6, 7-4) travel to Iowa State after an impressive 79-50 win at home over No. 6 Kansas on Monday. Darrion Williams played a flawless game, racking up a career-high 30 points on 12-of-12 shooting from the floor and grabbing 11 rebounds to help Texas Tech win its second straight contest after losing three in a row and dropping out of the poll.
“Everybody on the team is in the gym all the time, and we all just trust our work and it works,” Williams said afterward. “I made a lot of mistakes on defense that I’m sure Coach will yell at me tomorrow about, but I mean overall we won the game, but this isn’t our goal to beat Kansas. We’re trying to win the league.”
“Darrion wasn’t trying to be perfect — he was trying to win. When you play that way, you get rewarded,” Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said. “What an awesome combination he was (on Monday) of scoring and facilitating and rebounding and just winning.”
Warren Washington added 11 points for the Red Raiders, whose defense was just as important. They held short-handed Kansas to just 32.7 percent field goal shooting and 18.8 percent (3 of 16) on 3-pointers.
–Field Level Media