3 things to know before Iowa State’s game against Texas Tech

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Photo: Nicole Wiegand/Iowa State Daily
Members of Cyclone Alley line up to receive pink T-shirts and pom-poms prior to the ISU women’s basketball game against Oklahoma on Saturday, Feb. 18, at Hilton Coliseum. The game was a part of WBCA’s Play 4 Kay pink initiative and sought to raise breast cancer awareness among Cyclone fans.

Luke Manderfeld
February 17, 2016

1. Iowa State focusing on “finishing the season” with about three weeks left 

The Cyclones have been battling through a rough stretch of the season, dropping eight of their last nine games. 

But ISU coach Bill Fennelly has a slightly different focus to the end of his season besides winning. He wants his team to end the season on a good note, particularly his young players, who he wants to learn how to battle adversity. 

“I think the biggest thing is to get these players to understand that you finish what you start.,” Fennelly said. “You go all the way to the end. We’re still trying get better. We’re playing players that will be a bigger part of our program next year, and kind of set the tone that you play the end and see some good things happen.”

Iowa State has only two seniors on the team, Kidd Blaskowsky and Madison Baier, who will be finishing their last season as Cyclones. But they also have three freshmen, Bridget Carleton, Meredith Burkhall and TeeTee Starks. 

Along with those freshmen, they have guard Jadda Buckley, a sophomore, and Seanna Johnson, a junior. 

“We want to see the kids battle through some adversity, see the kids have down times and come back and have some good times,” Fennelly said. “We’re going to try and do some things throughout the last five or six games and try and evaluate where we are.”

Even through all of the late-season evaluations, Fennelly still wouldn’t mind a few victories. 

“Be nice to win a couple of games, that’d probably be the first thing,” Fennelly joked. 

2. Pink out

Iowa State and the fans will be donning pink clothes at Wednesday’s game against Texas Tech in its annual pink-out game. 

The Cyclones will be wearing pink uniforms and encourage fans to wear pink clothes to the game. The pink-out will be especially emotional for guard Lexi Albrect, who’s sister died of breast cancer earlier this season.  

3. Overtime fueling the team?

The last time the Cyclones took on the Red Raiders, on Jan. 17, the game went down to the wire. Iowa State forced an overtime, but fell, 69-66. 

The team had 23 turnovers in the game. 

The loss triggered Iowa State’s tough nine game stretch in which it has lost eight games. 

Even though the loss was a crucial one for the team and its season, the players aren’t using it as fuel for Wednesday night’s game. 

“I think we’ll be ready to go,” Fennelly said. “We didn’t that finish that game very well at Tech. We’re down double digits at Tech, and we need one more score to win the game and we couldn’t get it. 

“But I think they’ll be as ready as ever.”