AMES — No. 8 Iowa State has dropped three games in a row, its longest losing streak since the 2022-23 season. The Cyclones will look to put an end to their skid against TCU as ESPN’s College GameDay comes to Ames.
“There’s some times when you’re not successful, where guys look like they’re down, they’re deflated, they’re disappointed in themselves, they feel like they let their teammates down, that sort of thing,” Iowa State head coach T.J. Otzelberger said about the loss at Kansas. “That wasn’t the case, even though we were highly disappointed on Monday. It was more of a look in the eyes of, ‘Okay, we’re ready to change this. It’s time to change this,’”.
That is the mindset that the Cyclones will need to have if they want to get back to their winning ways because ever since Arizona’s Caleb Love hit the half-court shot to send the game into overtime, the Cyclones have struggled tremendously.
Since that shot fell in Tucson, Iowa State has been outscored 164-117 with seemingly nothing going its way.
However, the Cyclones know that they cannot let this recent stretch decide the outcome of their season.
“We realize that it’s a hard conference, it’s a long season, there’s going to be ups and downs,” junior guard Tamin Lipsey said. “Obviously we’re in a down spot right now, but the good thing about that is we have time to make our way out of it.”
“We can’t change what happened in the past, but we can change how we work and how we handle things moving forward,” junior guard Demarion Watson said.
Up next on the Cyclones’ road to getting back on track is TCU.
The Horned Frogs have had an up-and-down season as they sit at 12-10 overall and 5-6 in Big 12 play, but they have won two in a row, defeating Colorado and West Virginia at home.
Otzelberger’s focus going into the game is on physicality and rebounding, which Iowa State has struggled with recently.
“It’s going to come down to our front court, establishing the physicality on the interior, and then as a team finishing plays on the glass, we do that, focus on our identity, then offense will come forward for us,” Otzelberger said.
TCU is just 1-5 on the road this season with its lone road victory coming by three points at Baylor. This stat should be a sign of good things to come for the Cyclones, but in their last home game, they let a Kansas State team, who had lost 15 straight road games, come into Hilton Coliseum and defeat them.
If this game wasn’t already big enough for Iowa State’s season, ESPN’s College GameDay is coming to town to make it feel even bigger.
“College GameDay, that whole atmosphere will be fun for the fans and the community,” Lipsey said.
“It’s huge,” Watson said. “Obviously we have the best fan base in the country and having College GameDay here just brings it up another level,”
This is the first time in 10 years that ESPN’s College GameDay will take place inside Hilton Coliseum, which shows how much Iowa State has grown as a program.
“I have so much respect for T.J. [Otzelberger] and what he’s done, and the passion that he’s brought back to Iowa State,” ESPN analyst Seth Greenberg said. “It’s exciting to see where they are right now,”
“I think it’s a credit to the young men in our program. It’s a credit to those that have come before to get the national validation to have GameDay come,” Otzelberger said.
The Cyclones are hopeful that the atmosphere that College GameDay brings will help them get their season turned around.
ESPN’s College GameDay will be broadcast live from Hilton Coliseum at 10 a.m. Saturday on ESPN, with Iowa State and TCU tipping off immediately after at 11 a.m. on the same broadcast.
