As the Big 12 schedule continues to unfold for Iowa State, the Cyclones will be looking to add to their recent success following their perfect start to conference play.
A big part of the Cyclones’ success thus far has been in the ways that the team has started to mesh together and use the mentality of being a younger team as an advantage.
Forward Nyamer Diew has been one of the few veteran players, as she has started to instill a fire in the team.
“Everyone wants to talk about what we don’t have with being a young team, but at the end of the day, you guys are the ones losing to us. They gotta start worrying about themselves instead of us,” Diew said.
Even coming into the season, Iowa State had been known as one of the younger teams in the Big 12, but that has not looked to be the case in the Cyclones’ wins over Oklahoma State and Kansas.
Diew also mentioned how non-conference play has helped shape the team into the way it is now. The Cyclones are currently on a five-game winning streak.
“They gotta start getting us in November and December, because once we start to get experience in those big games, that’s when we’re really gonna start turning it around,” Diew said.
Center Audi Crooks also believed in the team and knew they would blow off the doubters that came their way. She also uses it as extra motivation and thinks of it as something that could help the team find further success down the road.
“We’re not really worried about what anybody else has to say, but we do take it with a grain of salt,” Crooks said. “However, it does give us a little extra chip on our shoulders. We’re not necessarily focused on proving them wrong, as much as we are proving ourselves right.”
While head coach Bill Fennelly did not necessarily keep the same energy as Diew and Crooks had, he still maintained the importance of keeping his players informed of the fact that they were getting into something they have never experienced before at this level.
“I’ve basically talked about how no one will feel sorry for us since we are an inexperienced team,” Fennelly said. “So, it was just trying to get them ready, because in life, you need to know what you’re getting into, and I think our players did a good job of understanding that.”
Iowa State’s conference schedule has only just started to ramp up. With the competition rising, the Cyclones will continue to look to use the underdog mentality as fuel as they head deeper into their tough conference schedule.
