It certainly wasn’t a pretty game for Iowa State, but rising up out of the cellar is rarely clean.

Missing three-pointers they normally make and allowing a sub-.500 team to dictate the pace, the Cyclones couldn’t find a spark in a battle of last-place teams.

Wednesday’s 92-83 loss to Texas Tech may mean more than just another tally in the loss column.

“I don’t know what the key is right now, but at some point you’ve got to take a stand,” said ISU coach Fred Hoiberg.

Just three weeks removed from a seven-game winning streak, Iowa State has faced strong and physical adversity in the Big 12 and sits at the bottom of the standings. Texas Tech’s 54.7 percent shooting and Mike Singletary’s 33 points on 18 shots were just by-products that left the team questioning where to go next. The Cyclones shot just 19 percent from deep.

“They really like to drive you and have you over-help and kick it for three,” said TTU coach Pat Knight. “We figured we’d rather give up twos than threes.”

The squad and coaching staff all agreed it was an important week, with Texas Tech and Oklahoma, two teams Iowa State could beat to rise back into the Big 12 race. After allowing a season-high 92 points, including 55 in the second half, it’s unclear what the next move is with the young team.

“You talk about taking away the three-point line, we scored 83 points,” Hoiberg said. “You should win a game when you score 83 points.”

Singletary’s domination inside wasn’t reserved for just the Cyclones, as the senior forward has been known to go off with big scoring performances. It just further proved Iowa State’s problem’s with physical players in the paint. Hoiberg’s squad allowed 44 points in the painted area and Tech shot 62.5 percent from the field in the second half.

“That’s unacceptable, you cannot allow that to happen,” Hoiberg said. “We’ve got to find a way to attack from the beginning. We were jogging to our spots on offense, it just wasn’t there. It’s beyond me how it can’t be after having two big losses.”

The Red Raiders learned on film that they could slow down the Cyclones’ outside shooting with their length, and it caused mayhem in the back-court.

“We wanted to make them drive, we didn’t want them getting any threes up, they’re good three point shooters,” said TTU forward D’walyn Roberts.

After the game, Hoiberg was animated and upset with his team’s performance.

“We came out without any energy, that’s very disappointing to me,” Hoiberg said. “I put it on myself. We’re going to get after it tomorrow. The next couple days, we’re going to get after it. These guys need to be held more accountable and I put that on me.”