AMES — Whether it was shooting, rebounding or turning the ball over, the No. 3 Cyclones couldn’t get anything to go their way in an 80-61 defeat to Kansas State. The loss ended Iowa State’s 29-game home winning streak.
Coming into Saturday’s matchup between Iowa State and Kansas State, everything seemed to point to an Iowa State home victory.
The Cyclones were riding a 29-game home winning streak which was tied for the second longest in the country, having not lost a game in Hilton Coliseum since February 2023.
Not only that, but Kansas State had a long streak of its own coming into Saturday; a 15-game road losing streak that stretched back to January 2024. The Wildcats had also, in general, just been struggling, starting the season 9-11 overall and 3-6 in Big 12 play.
The game started as many would expect, as the Cyclones looked like the much better team in the opening minutes.
Iowa State jumped out to a 13-4 lead just under four minutes into the game and seemed to be dialed in, as it made five out of its first six shots and was suffocating the Wildcat offense.
However, after a Kansas State timeout, everything seemed to change.
The Wildcats immediately went on a 13-3 run to take the lead, and from there it was a back-and-forth first half.
In the first half, the Cyclones shot the ball well, shooting 52.6% from the field, 66.7% from 3-point range and 90% from the free-throw line, but they found issues in other areas.
Iowa State turned the ball over 11 times and got outrebounded on the offensive glass 8-1 in the first half. So while the Cyclones were shooting at a 12% higher clip, they still found themselves trailing by two points at halftime.
In the second half, it was a lot of the same for the Cyclones in many ways, one of those being the sloppiness with the basketball. Iowa State turned the ball over seven more times in the second half for a total of 18 in the game.
18 turnovers tied Iowa State’s season-high that was set in the previous game against Arizona.
“We’re trying to force those drives through multiple defenders and, again, it’s a physical game, but when you’re trying to go one on three, it’s probably not gonna go your way,” Iowa State head coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “You’re taking an unnecessary risk and we’re doing that far too often.”
“I think it’s just on us as players, just to not get in an area where we might get stuck or just make the simple pass at the time and I feel like sometimes myself or others just tried to force something that wasn’t there and led to careless turnovers,” junior guard Tamin Lipsey said.
The struggles on the glass also persisted. Iowa State gave up another six offensive rebounds for a total of 14 allowed and was outscored 21-6 on second-chance opportunities.
“There was a point in the game where it was 15 to zero in second-chance points, and that’s that’s a care, that’s a pride, that’s a fight, that’s physical and that to me was indicative of our effort, our energy and us not playing anywhere near our standard,” Otzelberger said.
In the first half, Iowa State struggled with turning the ball over and rebounding, but its shooting kept them in the game. In the second half, even the shooting became an issue.
Iowa State went from having a very efficient first half shooting the ball to having one of its least efficient halves of the season. The Cyclones shot 27.3% from the field, 22.2% from 3-point range and 66.7% from the free throw line in the second half.
Poor shooting and rebounding paired with turnover issues is not usually a formula for success and it showed. Outside of a 13-0 Iowa State run after being down by 19, Kansas State dominated the second half in all aspects of the game, eventually going on to win by 19.
“This was an unacceptable effort,” Otzelberger said.
This is the first time this season that Iowa State has dropped consecutive games, and it’s the first time that it has looked truly outplayed. The Cyclones will have to turn things around in a big way if they want to avoid a third-straight loss as they head to Lawrence to take on the No. 11 Kansas Jayhawks.
“I don’t think anyone expects that to happen in [Hilton Coliseum], not us, not the fans, so it sucks that it did happen and we’re gonna figure out why it happened and try to make that not happen again,” Lipsey said.
“It ain’t easy, but I trust the guys, the coaching staff and everybody around the program to know that we’re gonna get better and learn from it,” senior guard Curtis Jones said.