Iowa State was hoping to create a winning streak tonight against Texas. Instead, the Cyclones found themselves trailing early and couldn’t gain back the lead resulting in a 73-57 loss to the Longhorns. 

Here are the takeaways from tonight’s loss. 

Mo Bamba instead of Dylan Osetkowski

In the last game Iowa State played against Texas, it was the Dylan Osetkowski show. He had 25 points in the Jan. 1 game at Hilton Coliseum, while shooting 8-for-21 from the floor and 7-for-13 from the 3-point line. 

The Cyclones did a nice job closing Osetkowski out of the game tonight, but the Longhorns had another forward step up in the game at Austin, Texas. His name is Mo Bamba. 

Bamba is a highly recruited freshman that has the capabilities of going to the NBA after one college season. He had a strong performance against Iowa State in early January with 10 points, 16 rebounds and four blocks, but Osetkowski took over the game leading to a 74-70 win for the Longhorns.

Here are highlights of Texas’ 73-57 win over Iowa State, courtesy of ESPNU and @cyslockerroom pic.twitter.com/nYPx2qgiQ9

— Cyclone Basketball (@CycloneMBB) January 23, 2018

In the first half of the game, Bamba had 13 points and six rebounds along with two steals and two blocks. He ended the night with 24 points, 12 rebounds, two steals and three blocks. 

In the last match-up, coach Steve Prohm spoke highly of Bamba and described him as one of the leaders of Texas’ team and a prominent player in the Big 12 Conference. 

Bamba proved that tonight. 

The Three Musketeers 

Iowa State shot 21-for-54 from the field, 38.9 percent, in tonight’s loss and had three of its players score in double digits tonight. 

Redshirt freshman forward Cameron Lard led the Cyclones throughout the first half with 10 points and five rebounds. He scored only two points in the second half but recorded a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds. 

Nick Weiler-Babb and Lindell Wigginton both scored 15 points and led the Cyclones with 53 percent of its total points. Wigginton also added two rebounds and was one personal foul away from fouling out of the game. 

Weiler-Babb added four rebounds and three assists along with three steals to round out his game tonight. The redshirt junior is averaging close to a triple-double still this season with 12.2 points per game, 7.2 rebounds per game and 7.2 assists per game. 

The Cyclones were missing senior guard Donovan Jackson who hit one 3-pointer in the first half and one 3-pointer in the second half. He added three assists to his stat line and zero turnovers over 29 minutes of play. 

A low scoring night

The last time Iowa State scored under 60 points in a game was the last non-conference game of the season when the Cyclones beat Maryland Eastern Shore 55-49. 

The only other times Iowa State scored under 60 points was at the beginning of the season in the first two regular season games. The Cyclones lost 74-59 at Missouri on Nov. 10 and 74-56 at home against Milwaukee. 

Before the season started, Prohm said the goal every game for Iowa State is to reach 80 points. If the Cyclones can reach that mark, Prohm said the team has a strong chance to win the game. 

Iowa State is now 1-3 when it scores under 60 points. 

The Cyclones are 7-7 when they score under 80 points in a game, but they are 4-1 in games that they’re scoring 80 or more points per game. 

Prohm’s idea of scoring 80 points per game has shown success, but Iowa State has only had five games of 80-point performances. 

Fifty-seven points just isn’t enough to win a Big 12 basketball game on the road.