Two Cyclone seniors aren’t ready to give up.

In a stretch that has seen Iowa State (14-13, 4-8 Big 12) lose seven of its last nine games, it would be easy for the Cyclones to count their losses and look forward to next season.

Rahshon Clark and Jiri Hubalek aren’t ready to look at it that way.

“I hate losing is the main thing. No matter if it’s a senior season or not, [winning] is very important,” Hubalek said. “It’s my senior year, and I don’t want to lose at Hilton Coliseum, especially to end my last few games in this chapter of my life on a losing note, so there is definitely a lot of motivation to get it done in these next couple weeks.”

Iowa State has four games left, including the final two games of Clark and Hubalek’s careers at Hilton Coliseum, starting with Wednesday’s game against No. 6 Kansas.

Besides just wanting to go out on top at the ends of their careers, both want to end the season well to propel Iowa State into next year.

“I would love to see this program get even better as the years go on,” Clark said. “I’m not just going to stop watching just because I’m not here anymore, or I’m not going to stop rooting for them, so I want them to be as good as they can be.”

Head coach Greg McDermott also recognizes the importance of ending the season on a good note. McDermott said he thinks this off-season will be different from last year, especially because the team will be able to keep every non-gradating player for next season. That makes building up the momentum all the more important.

“I think it would be a shot in the arm for them, going into off-season training, knowing we were playing our best basketball at the end,” McDermott said.

Mental block?

In four of Iowa State’s eight conference losses, the Cyclones have either been in the lead or tied at halftime, and were within six points in two others, before their opponents turned the tide of the game in the second half.

The Cyclones led Texas Tech, 33-31, at halftime on Saturday, and were within a point at 63-62 before giving up a 13-2 run to end the game.

“It’s part mental and it’s part having guys that just haven’t been in that situation a lot. It’s being aggressive, and I think at times we get tentative because we’re afraid to make mistakes in those situations,” McDermott said.

The team is close to playing a whole 40 minutes well, and has seen players such as guards Bryan Petersen, Diante Garrett and Sean Haluska, as well as forward Alex Thompson, improve, McDermott said.

Haluska also said the team is close to being able to come together for a whole 40 minutes, and that when they do it will be good – hopefully in time to pull off an upset of the Jayhawks.

“It just seems like a lot of games come down to those last five minutes, and it’s just something we’ve got to get better,” Haluska said. “I think we’re going to get through it and get that first win where we play well for a full 40 minutes, and I think we’ll be all right.”

Disappearing act

Hubalek had a double-double at halftime Saturday, with 13 points and 11 rebounds, but finished the game with only 17 points and 15 rebounds against the Red Raiders.

“I would say I just disappeared and didn’t get it done, so that was very disappointing,” Hubalek said.

Although the defense adjusted to stop him, Hubalek said he didn’t make the adjustments he needed in order to counter the defense in the second half.

“I’ve seen those adjustments in the last few games, and I was ready for it,” Hubalek said. “It might have affected me because I didn’t get the ball in places I would like to get the ball as much, but I wasn’t thinking like that in the game and I just thought it was my fault that I didn’t get it done.”

Continued improvement

Despite his disappointment, Haluska’s 15 points against Texas Tech were a career high for the guard as he continued his recent hot streak.