Following No. 8 Iowa State’s 68-59 loss to No. 5 Houston on Saturday, in which the Cyclones were without their top two scorers in senior guards Curtis Jones and Keshon Gilbert, Iowa State had an opportunity to take down a top-five team on the road, but could not do so after a poor shooting performance in the first half.

But while the Cyclones were outlasted in the end by the better Cougars team, there was a controversial call midway through the second half that may have swung the tides in Houston’s favor.

That one call was during a Cougar offensive possession, where Iowa State senior guard Nate Heise was closely guarding Houston senior guard L.J. Cryer in the corner.

It looked like all was well when it came to an offensive player facing a defensive player until Cryer, who held the ball low by his legs in an athletic stance, moved it up to his right shoulder in a quick, swiping motion.

In doing so, Cryer hit Heise in the face with an elbow.

Initially, Cryer was called for an offensive foul for hitting Heise in the face as he tried to make a move. That meant that the Cyclones would get the ball back after clawing back to within three points of the Cougars after being down by as much as 16.

But then, the call was reviewed for what some may have thought was a potential flagrant foul. But instead, it was reviewed for a potential cylinder foul.

That left fans wondering what a cylinder foul was.

As the NCAA defines in Rule 4, Section 39, Article 1c: The space that a player may legally occupy is defined by an imaginary cylinder surrounding the player and which extends from the floor to as far above the player as he can jump or extend his arms and body. The diameter of the cylinder shall not extend beyond the hands/arms on the front (the arms bent at the elbow), the buttocks on the back and the legs on the sides. These dimensions may vary according to the height and size of the player.

In this instance, the referees believed that Heise violated Cryer’s cylinder, even though Heise was just closing off Cryer’s space by playing good defense.

With this called against Heise and Iowa State, it meant that Houston would get the ball back, which eventually led to Cryer hitting a stepback 3-pointer, while being guarded by Heise again to increase the Cougars’ lead to six.

While Iowa State and Houston would go on to continue to battle back-and-forth, hitting shot after shot, it still left the Cougars with a lead.

But on that possession where the cylinder foul took place if Cryer were to be called for that offensive foul like initially called, the Cyclones would get the ball back with an opportunity to either lower the deficit or potentially tie the game.

That tie would have been the first since the game was tied 7-7 in the opening five minutes.

From there, who knows what would’ve happened.

Maybe Iowa State would’ve continued the 13-0 run it was on and potentially could’ve pulled away from a Houston team that has rarely looked bested at times.

If the Cyclones had pulled out a win, it would show that this team can battle through any adversity, despite showing that it struggled without sophomore forward Milan Momcilovic for about a month, but still would’ve been crucial to where Iowa State could be in March.

But that is, unfortunately, a “what if” scenario that did not come to fruition, as the Cyclones dropped a game without their two best scorers to the best team in the Big 12.

Still, what if that cylinder foul didn’t get called? That will forever remain a mystery.