Turnovers. It’s been called the “achilles heel” of Iowa State through its first eight games by Iowa State head coach Steve Prohm.

The admitted weakness of the Cyclones is also an unusual one eight games in to the season. With years of having skilled point guards with no turnover trouble and systems of small-ball with multiple ball handlers moving the ball around, Prohm said the uptick in giveaways has been a concern. 

Limiting the turnovers will be on top of the Cyclones’ priorities when they face  No. 18 Texas Tech (9-3, 2-2 Big 12) on Saturday in Hilton Coliseum. The game will be Iowa State’s third straight game against a ranked opponent.

Texas Tech ranks 13th in the country in creating 18.7 turnovers a game and first in Big 12 with a +7.33 turnover margin.

And while the Red Raiders pose themselves as a defensive force, ready to take advantage of Iowa State’s turnover problems, Iowa State found success in limiting the mistakes last time out.

Iowa State had a season-low eight turnovers against Texas on Tuesday.

“We’ve gotta shore that up,” Prohm said. “And against a team like Texas that defends really well in the half court, that presses at times, extends their defense and has good length and activity, I thought it was really good. Eight turnovers was huge.”

Iowa State comes into Saturday’s game averaging just over 16 turnovers a contest, compared to eight games into the 2019-20 season when the Cyclones averaged 10.8 turnovers a game.

The theme with the sloppy play early on has been overall decision making and too much dribbling for Prohm. For a team that wants to get the ball moving and use its defense to work quickly in transition, Iowa State has turned the ball over in transition quite a bit.

As a freshman guard for Iowa State, Jaden Walker has been asked to play mostly off-ball to start his collegiate career. With that said, Walker has been given more responsibilities in recent games with junior guard Rasir Bolton facing foul trouble and Tre Jackson being hurt for the first month of the season.

Walker said the miscommunication Prohm spoke of has been true in the early going for the Cyclones and the new faces and roles have not made that easier.

“Sometimes it comes from overthinking or it’ll be like miscommunication with each other,” Walker said.

Bolton has been given main point guard duties from Prohm and the junior has looked to be the Cyclones’ main facilitator and scorer. But the turnovers have stayed consistent with Bolton.

Five of Iowa State’s eight turnovers against Texas were from Bolton, who comes into Saturday’s game with three straight games with four or more turnovers.

As Bolton and Prohm evaluated Texas Tech on film, the plan will be to attack on offense while creating space to allow for the best looks possible. Limiting turnovers will be crucial to allow that game-plan to pan out.

But like most Chris Beard-led Texas Tech teams, Bolton said the Red Raiders play hard, create pressure and are another example of how tough the conference will be this season.

“They play hard, they play together,” Bolton said.

Iowa State (2-6, 0-4 Big 12) and No. 18 Texas Tech (9-3, 2-2 Big 12) will tip off at 3 p.m. (cst) on ESPN2.