As frustrating as Saturday’s ugly loss to Kansas State was for the Cyclones, they still had a chance to tie the game in the final seconds. Confusion and inexperience, however, doomed them.

Iowa State, trailing by three, got the ball back with 25 seconds left on the clock. After a timeout, the Cyclones brought the ball up but Bryan Petersen got trapped in the corner and the Cyclones couldn’t immediately find a shot. Coach Greg McDermott took the Cyclones’ final timeout with 14 seconds remaining.

McDermott’s plan was to run a high screen to get either Diante Garrett or Jamie Vanderbeken the ball, while simultaneously running a screen for a shooter in the corner.

With Petersen inbounding the ball from the baseline, the Wildcats sniffed out the play and McDermott said they “took away what we were trying to do,” by taking Garrett out of the picture. Petersen instead inbounded the ball with a lob to Craig Brackins near half court. Brackins took a couple dribbles, then pulled up with 11 seconds remaining and shot a long three from about six feet beyond the arc in front of the Pioneer sign near the Cyclones’ bench. The shot hit off the rim, ending the Cyclones’ chances. Brackins was 0-of-5 from the arc in the game.

After the game, a visibly distraught Brackins said after seeing Garrett was covered, he thought he heard McDermott yell to shoot the ball, so he did. Brackins, however, after thinking about the play, said what he actually thought McDermott said was to “take ‘em” instead of “shoot it.”

“I felt terrible afterwards,” said Brackins of the shot. “If I could take it back I probably would have drove it. I think that’s what he said, well I wasn’t sure what he said, but I thought he said shoot it.”

When asked what he said, however, McDermott, immediately defended Brackins’ shot.

“He had to shoot it,” McDermott said. “We are down three, and they did a good job taking away what we were trying to do. He had the ball in his hands, and frankly they weren’t really guarding him, but he maybe could have taken one more dribble to get a little closer but he got a clean look at it.”

When looking at the replay, Brackins may have been able to get one more step, but the shot was contested and the rest of his teammates were guarded. Kansas State also had the option of fouling and sending the Cyclones to the line, which would have taken even the opportunity of tying the game away. The Wildcats used a similar strategy in last year’s 73-69 win in Hilton.

“Craig made the play he had to make,” McDermott said.

The Cyclone’s haven’t had much experience setting up game tying or winning shots in the final 30 seconds of the game. The only game-winning or -tieing shot the Cyclones have made was a Garrett game winner with 12 seconds left in the first game of the season against UC-Davis. Only two other times, against Hawaii and against Drake, have the Cyclones even had the ball for a chance at a game-winning shot in the final 30 seconds.