The slump the ISU men’s golf team is going through has continued after another tough tournament at the Adidas Hoosier Invitational.

Finishing 8th out of 15 teams isn’t a bad finish. Finishing 8th out of 15 against teams that are not of your caliber is. The Cyclones finished behind teams like No. 250 Butler, No. 199 Cleveland State, No. 182 Evansville, No. 177 Oakland and No. 142 IUPUI.

“It’s to the point now where our guys know what they need to do,” said coach Andrew Tank. “They know what they’re struggling with; it’s just a matter of them stepping up and working through it.”

At the Adidas Hoosier Invitational, the Cyclones were led by junior Nate McCoy. Firing rounds of 71, 69 and 72, for a 212 total, McCoy tied for fourth overall. Behind McCoy was sophomore Borja Virto, who tied for 24th with a 220, and behind him was first-timer Josh Bruder who finished in 37th place with a 223. Bringing up the rear of the scoring for Iowa State was senior Nathan Leary finishing in a tie for 43rd, and junior Tom Lathrop, who tied for 47th.

McCoy had an outstanding tournament. His fourth-place overall finish marks the sixth top-10 finish of his collegiate career.

“This is probably the most confident I have been since the Spring Break trip,” McCoy said. “At one point, I was just mad at myself, because I knew I was better than how I was playing. Then it clicked, and I just put it into a another gear.”

This week McCoy said he would be in Des Moines for practice. As for the rest of the team, it will all be qualifying and competing for spots at this coming weekend’s meet. McCoy will be exempt from the qualifying the rest of the team will do because of his top-5 finish.

With the third-straight poor performance, it could be a time for the team to change the way it has approached things or try something new, but the coaches aren’t worried.

“It’s a big challenge for me as a coach to not change what we’re doing just because we’re playing poorly,” Tank said. “We just need to continue with the things we’ve been doing all year, and I’m confident that they can play up to their potential.”

The Cyclones will head to Iowa City this weekend to compete at the Hawkeye — TaylorMade/adidas Invitational.