After hitting rock bottom, the Cyclones are slowly working their way back to the top.

After a 63-51 loss at Kansas State on Jan. 26, the ISU men’s basketball team was 0-5 in Big 12 Conference play and last in the conference. Now the team sits at 5-5, tied for fifth after defeating No. 25 Texas Tech on Saturday.

Suddenly, NCAA Tournament chatter is starting to be heard.

With an 81-68 win in front of a sellout crowd of 14,092 at Hilton Coliseum, the Cyclones defeated their fourth ranked opponent of the season and third in two weeks.

“I’m really proud of my team. I’m really proud of the way they bounced back from adversity,” said ISU head coach Wayne Morgan. “I’m really proud of the way they kept trying harder, and I’m proud of the way they never gave up.”

The win streak appeared to be in jeopardy on Saturday when Texas Tech jumped out to a 21-6 lead in the first half, led by Ronald Ross who had 10 points in the first three and a half minutes of play.

“They were hitting every shot. We were missing every shot,” said senior center Jared Homan. “It could only go uphill from there. We knew we could battle back. That was our mindset; we weren’t going to give up.”

The Cyclones battled back, and tied the game at 28 with just under two minutes in the half. Iowa State took its first lead of the game after a Will Blalock jumper, but Tech knotted the game at 32 heading into halftime.

Texas Tech coach Bob Knight said he was worried when the Raiders jumped out to a big lead.

“I thought we did a pretty good job in the second half of staying within distance, but we had not been good at any time this year when we’ve had a good lead,” Knight said.

“We inverted the game from what it should have been.”

Again, forcing turnovers proved to be beneficial to the Cyclones, as they scored 27 points off 18 Raider turnovers. Iowa State also had 22 transition points.

“If you play us in transition, I don’t think there’s a team, with the possible exception of North Carolina, that’s better in transition,” Morgan said.

The Cyclones were led by Homan who finished with 23 points, going 8 for 12 from the floor and 7 for 7 from the free-throw line.

Blalock added 15 points, six rebounds, six assists and four steals.

Freshman Tasheed Carr finished with 17 points and eight rebounds.

“Tasheed Carr has been great. For a freshman, that’s a great night,” Morgan said. “The big three, Will, Jared and Curtis, have done what they have to do all year, and those two freshmen [Carr and Rahshon Clark] have stepped up big. They’re a lot of the difference.”

During the team’s 0-5 start to the conference, Morgan said even though people outside of the program may have given up, the team didn’t.

There are teams playing great basketball now that weren’t a few weeks ago and vice versa, he said.

“That’s basketball. It has ebbs and flows and tides. When you’re a great team like Illinois, you win them all, but some of us have to go through our growing pains,” he said.

If they keep playing like they are, the Cyclones may be on the tournament bubble.

“We’re going to keep playing like our backs are against the wall still. We’re going to keep doing that,” Stinson said. “We’re going to make them give us a bid.”

“We’re not going to ask them, we’re going to go get it.”