The silence may not have been deafening, but it was noticeable.

The Cyclones were greeted at practice following a 61-56 upset loss at the hands of the Jayhawks to an unusually quiet Bill Fennelly.

No yelling or screaming. No wind sprints after losing a game the team felt like it should have won. No punishment. Just quietness.

“I wanted to see how they reacted,” Fennelly said. “I wanted to see what they did and I wanted to see if they responded internally. I just kind of watched and analyzed some things.”

Players took notice of Fennelly’s quiet demeanor.

“I think we all noticed it, we all talked about it,” said sophomore Seanna Johnson. “We knew we had to get it going for him. He was going to have a quiet day for us to see how we responded, so I think we all responded pretty well.”

After a tough loss, the team needed to regroup. Winning and losing is important to Fennelly. It’s important to the fans too, Fennelly said. Now he wanted to see how important it was to his players.

He watched their body language. He looked for togetherness. He looked for senior leadership.

Fennelly and the players said the result was positive.

“I think the girls did a really good job yesterday of coming together, the gym had a lot of energy on our end, which was really good,” said senior guard/forward Brynn Williamson. “We were all texting each other last night just knowing that Oklahoma had lost and the Big 12 is really up for grabs.“

With the loss in the past, Iowa State will turn its attention to Oklahoma State, the team the Cyclones square off against Jan. 31, right? Well, maybe not.

“You’re always worried about the other guy, but we got to do a better job of worrying about what Iowa State is doing before we can really worry about anyone else,” Fennelly said.

The Cyclones have been out of their element in recent games, as they have shot fewer 3-pointers than they typically do and against Kansas, Iowa State gave away a whopping 20 turnovers.

Before Iowa State worries about Oklahoma State, the team has to clean up its own act, Fennelly said.

After a three-game winning streak that included a road victory against No. 8 Texas, completing the season sweep of the Longhorns, the Cyclones were sky high.

The loss against Kansas has now brought them back to Earth.

“[On Jan. 25], we’re the biggest thing going and [Jan. 28], you know, we’re in the doghouse getting nasty emails and [tweets],” Fennelly said.

Welcome to college sports.

The good news for the Cyclones is that they have a quick turn around. They can get back on track relatively quickly and the next opportunity to do that is Jan. 31 against Oklahoma State.

While the Cyclones are focusing on themselves first and foremost, they are also looking at what the opposing team brings to the table in the first matchup of the year against Oklahoma State.

“They’re hard for us to guard,” Fennelly said. “Our matchups are always kind of difficult and I think you see that in our league. Some teams you match up really well with and some teams you don’t and you can’t figure out why and Oklahoma State has always been a little tougher for us.”

Those matchups might have gotten a little easier, as starting guard Brittany Atkins is out for the remainder of the season with an injury. Atkins was averaging 9.4 points per contest.

Still, Oklahoma State has plenty of weapons at its disposal, including four starters who average double-digit points in scoring.

Now, it is time to find out how a quiet Bill Fennelly team will bounce back when his team faces off against Oklahoma State at 6 p.m. Jan. 31 at Hilton Coliseum.