KANSAS CITY, Missouri — No. 23 Iowa State (20-10, 12-6 Big 12) will take on Oklahoma State (20-11, 9-9 Big 12) at 11:30 a.m. Thursday in the quarterfinal round of the Big 12 Championship in Kansas City.

Check out the game preview story here.

Here are three more takeaways from the Cyclones’ practice at the Sprint Center on Wednesday ahead of the game:

Monte Morris fine after tweaked ankle, Cousy Award “snub”

Iowa State point guard Monté Morris rolled his right ankle last Friday at West Virginia, bringing flashbacks to when he hurt his shoulder right before the Big 12 Championships last season.

That injury affected him throughout the conference tournament and the NCAA Tournamen, and stifled his play.

Yet on Wednesday, when the Cyclones held a brief 40-minute practice at the Sprint Center, Morris said he was good to go. He was moving around fine on the court, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

“Everything’s cool,” Morris said. “It feels good to be able to shoot a rhythm jump shot in this building, because I haven’t shot one since my sophomore year. So I’m happy and definitely blessed.”

Morris, who has led the Cyclones in numerous statistics all season, has been in consideration for the Bob Cousy Award — given to the nation’s top point guard — all year.

Yet on Monday, Morris was left off the Cousy Award finalist list, something many Cyclone fans didn’t agree with. Even coach Steve Prohm briefly voiced his opinion on the issue on Wednesday.

But Morris was calm about it.

“Control what you can control and just play in silence,” Morris said. “I’m not the type to talk about it. I know what I’m capable of. That’s for other people to talk, say I got snubbed and things like that. Obviously, I can’t get mad at them. I just didn’t do enough on my end and I have to step my game up.”

Being left off the list, though, did light a small fire under the senior.

“I’ve got to play with more of a chip on my shoulder,” Morris said. “There are still people out there who don’t believe. I’ve been underrated all my life. Making the award list, that would have been a pleasure, but it’s not going to change the way I approach every night.

“I’m just ready to go, and it’s March. It’s go time.”

Elijah Long, Mount St. Mary’s win Northeast Championship

Elijah Long, a sophomore guard at Mount St. Mary’s and Naz Mitrou-Long’s brother, beat St. Francis 71-61 on Tuesday night to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Long led The Mount with 24 points, going 9-of-19 from the field and grabbing nine rebounds in the Northeast Conference championship game.

Naturally, Mitrou-Long had his eyes locked on the game from Kansas City.

“I’m geeked up about that because he’s just a guy who’s been up against all odds,” Mitrou-Long said. “Very [under-recruited], a super short guy that a lot of people didn’t believe in, and he comes out yesterday and goes 24 and nine, leading his team to an NCAA birth. That’s I think their sixth in school history. [I’m] nothing but proud of him and everything he’s done.”

Iowa State hosted Mount St. Mary’s earlier this season, a 73-55 win for the Cyclones. While the score wasn’t very important to Mitrou-Long, he was just excited to get on the same court with his brother again — and to do so in front of a plethora of family members who made the trip down from Canada.

Now, depending on how the NCAA Tournament bracket is set up, the brothers have a chance to play each other again.

“That’d be dope, especially because it’s real costly to come from Canada, so our whole family could have a nice little reunion in an NCAA game again,” Mitrou-Long said. “It’d be a dream come true. It was the first time, and that’s coming from someone who didn’t even play good in that game, but it was just a dream come true to be on the court with him. That’d be awesome.”

Former assistant T.J. Otzelberger earns NCAA bid

Former Iowa State assistant coach T.J. Otzelberger has punched his ticket to the NCAA Tournament.

South Dakota State, where Otzelberger took over as head coach this season, beat Nebraska-Omaha 79-77 in the Summit League championship game Tuesday night, led by 37 points from sophomore Mike Daum.

Prohm said he has been following the Jackrabbits’ tournament run closely, and he has shot Otzelberger a text after each game.

Last night was no different.

“Last night, I figured he probably had 500 texts,” Prohm said. “It’s a great moment for him. He did an unbelievable job. I just texted him, ‘Keep getting the ball to Mike Dahm.’

“But I’m really happy for him. I thought he did a great job, especially seeing his team get better throughout the year. That’s a sign of a really good coach, so I’m happy for him.”

ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi projects that South Dakota State, which finished the season with an 18-16 record, will be a No. 16-seed in the tournament. Regardless, it has a spot in the “Big Dance.”

Mitrou-Long, who was first recruited by Otzelberger, was keeping a close eye on their tournament run, too, and said he couldn’t be happier.

“That’s the guy who brought me in here, him and coach Fred [Hoiberg]. He had as big a role as anybody in getting me here and keeping me here,” Mitrou-Long said. “That game followed up right after my brother’s, and I wouldn’t miss that for nothing. Coach T.J. deserves that. [The] odds were against him as well; he went out there and did it. Shout out to coach T.J. for making the [tournament]. That was big time.”