The Cyclone men’s basketball team is just hoping for some sort of consistency after starting conference play this past week. The Cyclones have looked great in road wins over Houston and Northern Iowa, but they have also looked poor in losses to Iowa and South Dakota State.

“I was happy in some regards in the way we played at Texas, especially coming off a game against Houston Baptist where I thought we lacked energy at times,” head coach Greg McDermott said.

Iowa State opened the conference season with a 75-67 loss to No.7 Texas, which on paper is Iowa State’s toughest road game of the season. The Big 12 is in a transition season and only three of its teams are currently ranked in the AP top 25, and — luckily for the Cyclones — all three of those teams play in the Big 12 South, which means they will only have to face them once.

“In the [Big 12] South, obviously Texas is very talented, Oklahoma’s got the best player in the country in Blake Griffin, and Baylor has all those senior guards that are back and are very dangerous,” McDermott said.

The Big 12 North teams are a little less intimidating after Kansas saw a mass exodus of talent to the NBA after its national championship.

“As you look across the north — with the exception of Missouri who is starting three seniors in the frontline — there is a lot of young players,” McDermott said. “You look at ourselves and Colorado and Kansas and Kansas State: There is a lot of new players and generally with new players you’re going to see some moments of greatness, and you’re going to see some head scratching moments.”

Staiger receives honor again

For the second time this season, sophomore guard Lucca Staiger was named the Big 12 Rookie of the Week.

Staiger averaged 10.5 points in two games last week and has made multiple 3-pointers in six straight games.

“You know Lucca continues to work extremely hard to try to improve his game both on the offensive and defensive end,” McDermott said.

A knee injury slowed the Blaustein, Germany, native at the beginning of the season, but he has heated up as the winter days get colder.

While he may be known as a 3-point specialist, he has proven in recent games that he can also drive to the basket. Versus Texas, he made three 2-point baskets, a career high.

“He’s more comfortable with his knee and more confident in his knee then he’s ever been at any point this season,” McDermott said.

After averaging just 4.2 points in his first six collegiate games, Staiger has averaged 11.5 points in his last ten games.

Hamilton posterizes A.J. Abrams

For those who didn’t have the chance to catch the Cyclones-Longhorns tilt, check out Justin Hamilton’s dunk on Texas’ All-Big 12 guard A.J, Abrams.

The pick-and-roll play was run to perfection by Hamilton and Staiger. Hamilton grabbed the perfectly placed pass with just the basket and 5-foot-11-inch Abrams in front of him. The dunk shrunk the Texas lead to 44-40 early in the second half.

“Justin’s very capable of that. I like the aggressiveness of that play,” McDermott said. “Those are the type of plays that are just going to give him more and more confidence and that’s going to be a big part to his development.”