As Texas A&M packed in its defense, guarding the lane, the Aggies dared the Cyclones to shoot from the outside. Iowa State accepted the challenge, putting up 20 3-point shots, but fell 60–56 after only making five threes.

“When their defensive plan is designed to muddy up the lane like it is, you’re going to have to make a few shots to loosen that up and we weren’t able to do that consistently enough,” coach Greg McDermott said.

Three-point shooting has been a struggle for the Cyclones ever since the departure of former junior guard Lucca Staiger, who left the team to return to Germany midway through the season.

Staiger, who was the team’s 3-point shooting specialist, spearheaded an impressive ISU 3-point threat. On Jan. 17, the day after Staiger’s final game with Iowa State, the Cyclones’ 3-point shooting was ranked eighth in the nation, shooting 41.8 percent from behind the arc. Staiger accounted for 2.8 3-pointers a game on 42.5 percent shooting, the 31st best percentage in the country.

Since the loss of Staiger, the Cyclones have gone cold from 3-point land, shooting just 34 percent from behind the arc in the 10 games since Staiger left, a stretch in which Iowa State has stumbled through a 1–9 record.

Against the Aggies those struggles continued. Although Iowa State did get open looks, they were unable to convert frequently enough.

“Scott [Christopherson’s] looks were good, all five of them,” McDermott said. “That’s the same guy that was knocking them down the other night. [Junior guard Diante Garrett] has been shooting it with more confidence, and I’ve given him a little bit more rope to shoot that shot because he has been shooting it well in practice.”

Since the Cyclones are struggling from behind the arc, they are looking at possibly scaling back the number of 3-pointers that they shoot.

“A lot of those threes we got are pretty wide-open shots,” McDermott said. “When you’re 15 seconds into the shot clock and you get that shot, you probably have to take it. We might have to use a little bit better judgment early in the clock, and that is something we will evaluate on film.”

Garrett feels the team is just going through a slump, however, and that they will be able to turn it back around.

“They’re good shots,” Garrett said. “We are getting wide-open shots. Guys are getting in the gym and getting a lot of shots up, we just aren’t hitting them right now, but we will.”

Dendy still in the dog house — Junior forward LaRon Dendy had not been seen on the court for Iowa State since Feb. 6 against Kansas State.

Dendy is currently dressing for the Cyclones, who have eight scholarship players available, but he has been sitting out due to what McDermott calls “trust issues” with the forward.

Dendy attended his great-grandmother’s funeral on Feb. 11, and when he didn’t make it back for the Kansas game two days later as McDermott expected, he was benched.

McDermott has said Dendy will only play when he proves he is trustworthy again.

Although Dendy had four minutes of playing time against Texas A&M on Saturday, it was a result of early foul trouble for sophomore Justin Hamilton rather than renewed confidence in Dendy.

“I’ve told him all along that I’m only going to play him in an emergency situation until I totally trust him,” McDermott said. “He’s practiced well, he is doing the things academically that he needs to do to catch up from what he missed from being home so long, and those things have to be priorities in his life. I have to make sure he learns that.”