By all accounts, Steven Pledger took over the game for Oklahoma at Hilton Coliseum on Saturday night. 

Pumping in 38 points, including 12 of his team’s 15 in overtime, Pledger kept the Sooners in the game late by hitting clutch shots and frustrating Cyclone fans. 

Even more frustrating than Pledger’s outburst to the boisterous Cyclone Alley was that he wasn’t the first player Iowa State has let light up Hilton Coliseum. 

“It’s tough when you’re losing games, you find ways to lose when you go on a streak like we’re on right now,” said ISU coach Fred Hoiberg. “We need a win in the worst way, and we need to come out prepared.”

The sophomore matched last year’s output by Oklahoma guard Tommy Mason-Griffin against Iowa State and overcame a rough shooting night by other usually-consistent Sooners. 

“It took a great performance by Steven Pledger tonight, and we needed all of them,” said OU coach Jeff Capel. “Steve was in a great rhythm offensively, and I thought our guys did a great job of finding him.”

Even though the Cyclones held Oklahoma 10 points beneath what Texas Tech scored Wednesday, they let one player dictate everything. 

Before Pledger, it was Texas Tech’s Mike Singletary banging bodies around for 33 points. A week before that, Oklahoma State’s Jean-Paul Olukemi poured in 29 points.

The week before that, Kansas had a few players come up big in a tight game, but forward Marcus Morris got his own segment on SportsCenter for his 33 point, 13 rebound outburst. 

“When good players get hot, it’s hard to stop them,” said ISU freshman Melvin Ejim. “I think we were playing good D and [Pledger] was just making tough shots.” 

In certain non-conference games, the Cyclones’ defense looked stout and ready for anything, keeping every opponent in games against Virginia, Dartmouth, Drake and Alabama State from scoring in double-digits. 

The Big 12 schedule has imploded many of Iowa State’s consistencies, but allowing big outbursts might be a major hole in the ship. 

“I was just going through my progression, I know I can always do things like that, it’s just about staying in the same mind frame,” Pledger said after Saturday’s game. “I guess I was in my zone.”

With Pledger and Oklahoma State’s Olukemi as each team’s third-leading scorers, it’s unclear how many more players the Cyclones will have to game plan for. But with the aforementioned names shooting a combined 62.3 percent from the field against Iowa State, tightening down in crunch time may pull the team out of last place. 

“I think Iowa State’s a good team,” Capel said. “They’re just in one of those spurts right now, which this league can do to you. If you look at it, they’re one or two possessions away from their conference season being completely different.”