Iowa State looks to Senior Night to end the home season on a high note

Donovan Jackson defends then-freshman Trae Young on Feb. 10, 2018. Young finished with 22 points on 7-21 shooting.

Brian Mozey

Donovan Jackson. Hans Brase. Jeff Beverly.

These three names will echo around Hilton Coliseum for the last time in their college basketball careers as Iowa State has Senior Night on Tuesday against Oklahoma State.

Even though these three names will be said one last time at home, their impacts on the Iowa State program will last a long time.

“I love Senior Night,” said coach Steve Prohm. “It’s an emotional night. It’ll be great to honor our three seniors… And we can finish the home slate on the positive note.”

Oklahoma State and Iowa State are the only teams in the Big 12 Conference not in Joe Lunardi’s NCAA Tournament bracket, but the Cowboys are the No. 3 seed in the NIT Bracketology, according to NYC Buckets.

Iowa State will stay in last place in the Big 12 but may need these last two regular season wins and a run in the Big 12 Tournament to push for an NIT bid.

Jackson made it clear a couple of games ago and today at the press conference that he’s not here to end his senior season in Kansas City, Missouri. He expects a postseason tournament for the Cyclones and will do anything he can to make sure it’s a reality.

The last time Oklahoma State and Iowa State played each other, Jackson was the main scorer for Prohm and the Cyclones. He went 8-for-12 from the field and six of those made field goals came from the 3-point line.

He also went 8-for-9 from the free throw line, making a total of 30 points scored against the Cowboys. Jackson said he needs to stay aggressive on the floor and allow himself to get fouled because he’s confident in his free throw shooting with a 90.5 percentage from the line.

“[My dad] used to always tell me attack the basket, attack the basket and get to the free throw line,” Jackson said after the loss to TCU on Feb. 21.

Prohm already said the three seniors will have a spot on the starting lineup against the Cowboys, but he’s happy with the leadership they’ve brought to the Cyclones. Even though Brase and Beverly came to Ames this season, they’ve already made an impact.

Brase came from Princeton where he battled not one, but two ACL tears in his knee to end the majority of his college basketball career. He wanted to come to Iowa State, so he could hit the refresh button and finish his college years on a positive note.

He only made one start this season but was finding his groove off the bench when he was taken off the court with an ankle injury. Then, his knee was acting up again.

He was out for five games and returned for six minutes against West Virginia last Saturday. It’s been an up and down season for him, but he can’t wait for Senior Night.

Brase said he’s never been able to play in his Senior Night because he was hurt during his high school night and was hurt again during his college night in Princeton. This will be his first and last Senior Night.

“Hopefully I’ll be able to put on a show,” Brase said. “I’ll ball up all the things I was going to use on Senior Night and put it into one game.”

Beverly was another unfamiliar face coming into this season but has made an impact both in the starting lineup and off the bench. He started the season in the starting lineup, but after the emergence of Cameron Lard and Zoran Talley Jr., they moved into the lineup.

Now, after all the injuries to end the season, he’s back on the starting lineup. For him, it’s been a journey of growth and becoming the man he wants to be to conclude his college career.

He depends on his mother and his former high school basketball coach for support through tough times, but, in the end, it’s been a memorable journey for him.

“Stay the course. Stay positive. Stay in the gym,” Beverly said. “Don’t let anybody put you in a box.”

That leadership will be needed on Tuesday as Prohm said it’ll be a lineup of seven or eight players and focus is to finish strong before the Big 12 Tournament next week. The Cowboys aren’t a team to look past as they’ve made their own run in the Big 12 having a 6-10 record in the Big 12 before Tuesday.

Oklahoma State has taken down Oklahoma at home, Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse, West Virginia in Morgantown and Texas Tech at home. Those aren’t easy games to win and with a new coach, Mike Boynton Jr., that doesn’t seem to matter for the Cowboys.

Iowa State will need to focus its attention on three key players for the Cowboys as Jeffrey Carroll, Kendall Smith and Tavarius Shine are all averaging 10 or more points per game this season. All three of them had a direct impact in the last game in Stillwater, Oklahoma, in early January.

Carroll (24), Smith (20) and Shine (15) combined for 59 points in the 96 total points for Oklahoma State, 61 percent of the total points. They also combined for 21 rebounds, nine assists and four steals.

The ability to stop all three of these players is easier said than done in Prohm’s eyes, but the focus tomorrow night will be before the game and recognizing the seniors.

Brase and Beverly agreed that not only the seniors, but the entire team has bonded throughout the season from a bunch of players from different places to an Iowa State basketball team.

“It became real tight,” Beverly said. “At first, it was a bunch of new guys that didn’t know each other. But now, we’re really tight. We’re really tight now.”