To say there was a lot of hype surrounding Iowa State’s home clash with Baylor before tip-off would have been a massive understatement. 

With former Cyclone basketball standouts Fred Hoiberg and Monte Morris in attendance (not to mention football coach Matt Campbell and athletic director Jamie Pollard), the Cyclones’ matchup with the Bears was more than a normal meeting between the two schools. When Campbell, Hoiberg and Morris were introduced at various points in the game, the crowd at Hilton Coliseum was electric. 

But for much of the actual game on Tuesday, the arena was filled with frustration.

It was uneven and messy, with multiple scrums for loose rebounds and plenty of Iowa State and Baylor bodies hitting the floor in desperate pursuit of the ball. There were crazy passes from redshirt sophomore forward Cameron Lard, a ludicrous layup from freshman guard Talen Horton-Tucker and a tense finish — albeit not one that Cyclone fans were fond of. It was, as Baylor coach Scott Drew put it, “great for television.”

Tuesday’s game posed a question with an uncomfortable answer for Cyclone fans.

What’s going on with Iowa State’s home performances? 

With a 73-69 loss to Baylor, the Cyclones are now 1-2 in their past three home games, with the one win coming by five points against Texas. Three of the Cyclones’ five conference losses have been in Hilton, all coming since the team’s marquee win over Kansas on Jan. 2. 

“Very frustrating,” said redshirt senior guard Nick Weiler-Babb. “We talked about it before the game, you’re not supposed to lose at home. In a place like this, you know, that has a history of winning at home, and we’re not doing any justice to it. it’s embarrassing.

“We got out-toughed from the jump.”

The toughness disparity was clear on the box score, as the Bears had 16 more rebounds than Iowa State and had 18 second-chance points. 

The defensive boards were a weak spot heading in to the Baylor game, with the Cyclones ranking last in the conference in defensive rebounding percentage and the Bears boasting the Big 12’s best offensive rebounding percentage. 

Still, at home this was a game Iowa State was expecting to win. But by giving up 18 offensive rebounds on Baylor’s 38 missed shots, the Cyclones set themselves up for disaster.

Coach Steve Prohm had a bad feeling about the team’s attitude from the start, saying that he told his assistants the team wasn’t where it needed to be to win. 

“They deserved to win this game in every aspect,” Prohm said of Baylor. “They came in here and kicked our butts.

“You give up [18] offensive rebounds, it’s going to be hard to win at the end of the day.”

Where does loss this leave Iowa State? 

The Cyclones are one of the most talented teams in the conference, with wins over each title contender (Baylor notwithstanding) and the conference’s highest-scoring offense. The defense, while uneven, has had its moments of dominance.

But, according to Prohm, the team lacks the toughness to take “the next step.” 

“It’s tough to win at this level,” Prohm said. “Attention to detail, toughness plays, execution and understanding the scouting report, all that stuff matters. And if you’re not executing and doing it, it’s going to be tough to win.”

Finding that extra toughness, that extra gear, is likely the key to Iowa State making any sort of deep postseason run. 

There’s five games left before the Big 12 Tournament starts. The Cyclones’ regular-season title hopes are shot, and it’s fair to question how much Iowa State will change before the intensity of the games ratchets up in March. 

Right now, Iowa State is a team caught between two versions of itself: a dynamic offensive squad capable of beating most teams in the country on its best day, and a team with rebounding liabilities that has been bullied by TCU and Baylor in consecutive home games.

Which team shows up for which game is up in the air, and Iowa State is almost out of chances to right the ship.

Prohm knows it, too. 

“If you play the way we play, it looks good, it’s pretty, offensive numbers are terrific, all that stuff,” Prohm said. “But if you’re going to win at the highest level, your substance better be real. And it is some days, but our team is our team.

“If you see a writeup on our team, it’s inconsistency and toughness.”