AMES – Like many people say, practice makes perfect, and one team that is near perfect in the Big 12 this season is No. 3 Houston at 18-1 in the league. The Cougars have achieved that through consistency on both ends of the court.
“I would guess that what they do in practice from a physical and toughness standpoint is as strong as anybody,” Iowa State head coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “They’ve done that the last two years and they’ve been at the top of the league. So my belief will always be that that is the standard right now. They are the standard in the league.”
No. 10 Iowa State on the other hand has seen some inconsistencies, especially in a couple of its recent games. The Cyclones blew Arizona out of the water at home, but then were in the midst of a 21-point deficit to BYU a couple of nights later.
“We shouldn’t have even let them get to that point where they were up 21,” Iowa State senior center Dishon Jackson said. “That was a multitude of things from a team aspect.”
The reason for this could simply be fatigue. March is when the toughest teams rise to the occasion, and Iowa State wants to be one of them. A 20-game conference slate has never been seen before in the Big 12, and it could be taking a toll on the Cyclones.
But for Otzelberger and his squad, that cannot become a reality with the Big 12 and NCAA Tournaments looming in the coming weeks. More so in Kansas City, where the Cyclones and other conference foes will play games without a day of rest in between.
So, the approach has shifted to tougher, intense practices to prepare for the gauntlet ahead. A lot of it is mental toughness, too, and having players believe they can continue to push themselves, because every other team is going through the same things.
“If you need off days of practice and rest days and those things, then you’ll play that way too,” Otzelberger said. “I just think teams either get better or you don’t at this time of the year.”
That’s where consistency comes into play, and the daily habits Otzelberger has preached all season. When the work gets put in every day, that’s where the results come from.
“Confidence definitely comes from winning, but I think confidence [also] comes from doing the same thing everyday,” Jackson said.
Otzelberger is in year four and has seen success every season, with three NCAA Tournament appearances, two Sweet 16’s and a Big 12 Tournament title a season ago.
All of those are just some of the examples of the daily habits being put to work on the court. It’s the culture shift Otzelberger has brought to this program.
“We had 10 guys on scholarship when we started the season in year one,” Otzelberger said. “We ended up in the Sweet 16, okay, how does that happen? It doesn’t happen by not practicing hard in January and February and March. I don’t feel like we ran out of gas. I feel like we got to a point that we maxed out our team and our potential based on what we did every day.”
That mindset is exactly what the Cyclones are using down the stretch this season. The tougher practices and the will and want to be successful have proven to work in the past for Iowa State.
One game remains in the regular season for the Cyclones, and it will be proof of whether or not the work put in will come to fruition. Iowa State will face Kansas State, who beat the Cyclones by 19 in Ames, to wrap up the season.
How Iowa State plays against the Wildcats is how it will go into Kansas City, where the massive slew of games will begin.
“Just trying to go into the conference tournament with some confidence and just the feeling that we had at the beginning [of the season],” Jackson said. “We’re here, we’re a good team.”
