Notebook: Wigginton’s award, Lewis’ growth, looking from past to future

Brian Mozey
February 26, 2018

Iowa State finished last week with an 0-2 record with an 89-83 loss to TCU on Wednesday and an 85-70 loss to then-No. 21 West Virginia on Saturday. Those two losses dropped the Cyclones’ record to 13-15 overall and 4-12 in the Big 12.

Coach Steve Prohm brought up a few topics in Monday’s press conference about finishing the season on a high note, while also understanding the importance of the Big 12 Tournament this March.

Here are a few takeaways from today’s media availability.

Lindell Wigginton wins Co-Big 12 Newcomer of the Week

The freshman guard continues to step up with season-ending injuries and absences on the team. After the death of Donovan Jackson’s father on Feb. 17, he had to be with his family last Saturday.

Iowa State had seven players available against the Mountaineers on Saturday and the most experienced player on the court for the Cyclones was Wigginton. He showed his leadership with a 29-point game along with four rebounds and four assists.

He ended the game with four personal fouls but had to control his fouls after picking up two before the end of the first half. He showed his maturity with understanding his presence on the court was more important than playing more aggressive and picking up fouls.

“Where Lindell’s at today, right now, we got to continue to challenge him,” Prohm said. “Because he has another level.”

Terrence Lewis continues to grow

After the two key injuries to Solomon Young and Nick Weiler-Babb and another lingering injury to Hans Brase, freshman guard Terrence Lewis has had to step up to end the season.

Before the West Virginia game on Saturday, the most minutes played in a game for Lewis this season was 19 against Northern Illinois during the non-conference season. The highest minute count in a Big 12 game was 16 against Baylor.

In Saturday’s game against the Mountaineers, Lewis played 34 minutes and contributed 12 points, two rebounds and one assist. He took 12 shots and connected on three of them, all three being 3-pointers.

Lewis is only a freshman and has three more years to grow, but Prohm said it’ll take some time and a big upcoming summer for him to mature.

“I think he has made a lot of strides, but there is a long way to go,” Prohm said. “I think the great thing is that he wants to get there… He’s been good to go over the last couple of weeks.

“Now, it has to become habitual. The habit has to be in place.”

Reflecting back to the West Virginia game

The final score last Saturday against the Mountaineers was 85-70 and that 15-point difference could look big, but Prohm just looks at a few minutes as the difference.

“We really just had two bad segments,” Prohm said. “We were 32-30 with a minute and a half to go in the first half, we would’ve been better to just dribble the clock out. It went from 39-34 then to 52-36, but outside of that little seven-minute window, six-minute window, we were pretty good.”

Prohm said this Iowa State team showed resilience in the West Virginia game with only seven active players and Brase only playing six minutes. The team could’ve put their head down and already know it was a loss before tip-off, but they didn’t and kept driving which made Prohm happy and proud.

He said that the Cyclones need that mentality going into the last two games with Oklahoma State coming to Ames tomorrow and then heading to Norman, Oklahoma, for a final game against the Oklahoma Sooners.

Not only is that toughness needed this upcoming week, but also next week when Iowa State heads to Kansas City, Missouri, to play in the Big 12 Tournament.

“We’re just getting started and there’s obviously a lot of things I could’ve done better, but the way we’re approaching is we got to finish this week well,” Prohm said. “And then we have the chance to play home games next week [with Hilton South coming down to Kansas City from Ames].”