So close, yet so far. That’s the theme of Iowa State’s mission to claim at least a portion of first place with Kansas.

It was just eight minutes that separated the Cyclones from tying the Big 12 lead. It was seven Baylor 3-pointers during that stretch that stood in the way.

The Bears hit a flurry of 3-pointers — 5-for-5 during a stretch — to pull away from the Cyclones, breaking Iowa State’s 21-game home win streak in a 79-70 win.

“Well, they got it going on us early again and I just don’t think our urgency out [of] the gate was very good,” said ISU coach Fred Hoiberg. “Offensively, we were clicking pretty well for most of the game, then we go on a drought and it affected us. It affected our defense.”

Leading 64-57, Iowa State forced Baylor to burn its final timeout of the half with more than eight minutes to play with the crowd at a fever pitch and seemingly all the momentum behind the Cyclones.

Then the drought.

Iowa State would only score six points the rest of the game while Baylor put on its shooting clinic. The Bears finished 14-for-26 from the 3-point line, led by Taurean Prince’s 20 points, going 4-for-8 from behind the arc.

The Big 12 race is far from over. If Kansas stumbles even once in its final stretch of games, Iowa State can still manage to tie for the conference lead. But with the conference race being so close, was Iowa State looking too far ahead against Baylor?

“We didn’t talk about it at all,” Hoiberg said of Big 12 title conversations. “We talked about taking care of today. We talked about it yesterday [during a] great practice, one day at a time … Obviously we didn’t get that accomplished.”

The loss certainly does not hurt the Cyclones’ NCAA tournament hopes, their Big 12 tournament chances or motivation heading into the tail end of the season, but it was obvious it will not be forgotten.

Sophomore Matt Thomas is in the middle of one of the best offensive basketball stretches of his career. Making 3-of-5 3-pointers and tallying 13 points, Thomas has put up 30 total points in his last two outings. But when asked about his improved play, he took a different approach. 

“The way I guarded tonight was absolutely embarrassing. That’s all that matters right now,” Thomas said.

The positives were hard to come by in the one minute of questions fielded by the players in the post game press conference.

“We just didn’t stick together as a team. We stopped communicating. We lost our togetherness,” said Jameel McKay.

Unfortunately for the Cyclones, the road doesn’t get much easier in their quest for a Big 12 championship. They travel to Bramlage Coliseum on Saturday to take on Kansas State — a notoriously tough venue to find a win.

But the chance is still there. In an unpredictable Big 12 season, Iowa State, Oklahoma and Kansas all have the opportunity to at least share a piece of the title.

“You can’t let one turn into two,” Hoiberg said of the loss. “You’ve got to bounce back with a great practice tomorrow … We’ve got two days to prepare for an afternoon game on the road.”