Iowa State’s last-second loss to Missouri on Tuesday ensured that the Cyclones will finish in 11th place in the Big 12. With their spot already set, the Cyclones can start setting their sights on next week’s Big 12 Conference Tournament.

But before Iowa State makes the trip to Kansas City, the Cyclones have one last chance to match last season’s record of 15–16 overall and 4–12 in the Big 12. Standing in their way is No. 5 Kansas State, which is coming off an 80–63 loss to No. 2 Kansas on Wednesday.

With the regular season in its final stage, Iowa State is searching for some sort of reprieve to lessen the sting of its long list of close losses this year. Missouri guard Zaire Taylor’s buzzer beating lay-in Wednesday left Iowa State in a state of shock. The loss was the ninth time in conference play the Cyclones have lost despite being within at least a possession with less than four minutes remaining.

“It’s the bounce of the ball, and sometimes you would like to think that you will get that bounce once in a while,” coach Greg McDermott said after his team’s 69–67 loss Tuesday. “But I’m also a firm believer that you create your own luck and you create luck by not making mistakes.”

While Iowa State turned out an otherwise solid performance, it was indeed a number of costly missed passes and misread defensive plays that let the Tigers escape with a win.

“You would just like to think we can make a play when we need to make a play,” McDermott said. “Because we have proven that we can make it to get back in a game or stay in a game, but when the game’s on the line we’ve made some mistakes.”

The Cyclones can be comforted slightly by the resurgence of senior Marquis Gilstrap. After being plagued by shooting woes for several weeks, Gilstrap has finally broken out of his slump. In his last three games, Gilstrap has averaged 18.6 points per game, just under four points better than his season average of 14.9 ppg. Despite this season being his first at Iowa State, Gilstrap has been embraced by both fans and teammates. He received a standing ovation during a senior recognition ceremony prior to tipoff Tuesday.

“It meant a lot for the fans to do that, especially with this being my first year, to receive that much love,” Gilstrap said. “I don’t think I could have come into a better situation.”

Gilstrap and the Cyclones will attempt to gain a boost of momentum with a win over the Wildcats on Saturday in Manhattan, Kan.