Cyclone men’s basketball coach Greg McDermott had some blunt words for his team after Sunday’s 80-78 defeat at the hands of the Drake Bulldogs.

“Bottom line – Drake’s just a better team than we are,” McDermott said. “I am disappointed that we lost this game, but I’m more disappointed with the way we defended.”

Iowa State fell to Drake inside Hilton Coliseum for just the third time ever and the first since 1978 – largely, McDermott said, because of the Cyclones’ lack of experience.

“Drake was probably the worst team we could’ve played in terms of our development right now,” McDermott said. “Any time you play a Tom Davis-coached team, they’re going to complicate things for you and it’s tough to play that kind of team when you’re really young, especially at the guard position.”

Drake started four seniors and a junior against Iowa State’s inexperience and it showed when Drake built a 16-point lead in the second half.

Iowa State made a comeback and tied the game in the final minute, but Drake got a fairly easy basket with 4.4 seconds to play that made the difference.

“After evaluating the film of that game, we just made far too many mistakes on that end of the floor,” McDermott said. “Just fundamental defense mistakes. We’re so concerned with where we’re supposed to be, when something breaks down we can’t read the situation and cover for a teammate.”

McDermott said both Drake and his alma mater Northern Iowa, who both play in the steadily improving Missouri Valley Conference, no longer fear Iowa State the way they may have in past seasons, making those rivalries healthier.

“There’s not an intimidation factor like there once was,” McDermott said. “We were the beneficiaries of that when I was with Northern Iowa when we played against Iowa. The guys played together all summer and it wasn’t any big deal that they had a jersey on that had Big Ten on it.

“It’s very similar in Drake’s case,” McDermott said. “They know all our guys and they know how we play and our guys have a feel for what they do, as well.”

Now, as Iowa State turns its attention to the rival Iowa Hawkeyes for its game on Friday, McDermott will get his first taste of what it’s like to coach in the most heated rivalry in the state.

“I think this rivalry is really special,” McDermott said. “I don’t think there’s a lot of others like it, especially anywhere you have a professional team.”

With Iowa breaking in several new players, including at key positions in the front court, McDermott said he expects a good matchup that will test both teams.

“I think [Iowa] Coach [Steve] Alford’s experiencing some of the same things that I am with my team,” he said. “He has a lot of new players and some of them are playing roles they’re not accustomed to.”

Iowa will provide interesting matchups with former Cyclone Adam Haluska at guard, along with point guard Mike Henderson, who is recovering from broken pinky finger.

Iowa State takes on Iowa at 7 p.m. Friday in Iowa City.

The Cyclones hope to defeat the Hawkeyes and avoid falling to all three intrastate rivals for the first time since 1997, when they were defeated 63-61 at Drake, 60-59 to Iowa and 54-48 to Northern Iowa.