No. 3 Iowa State hopes to start a new winning streak when it tips off against Kansas State in a Big 12 Conference showdown Saturday afternoon in Ames, Iowa.
The Cyclones (17-3, 7-2) are eager to move past an 86-75 overtime loss at Arizona on Monday in their most recent game. It marked their second loss in the past four games.
“We’ll be better for it,” coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “We’ll move on to the next thing here.”
That means a home-court test against Kansas State (9-11, 3-6), which is starting to climb out of a miserable start to the conference season. The Wildcats have won two games in a row after losing their previous six.
Kansas State coach Jerome Tang said his players have found more success since he and his assistants simplified the game plan. He conducted meetings with individual players and heard a consistent message that they had been confused with what they needed to do in the early part of the season.
Years ago, Tang said, it was easier to implement more complicated game plans because players stayed in the program for three or four years. But the more transient nature of today’s game creates extra importance for simplicity.
“We thought we were being simple with what we were providing them, but there was still confusion in what we were giving them,” Tang said. “Because we were probably giving them too much and thinking, ‘Man, … we’ve already toned it down, the number of sets we gave or what we are doing defensively.’ But that was still the common theme as I met with the players.
“So I went to the staff and said, ‘Look, we’ve got to make it even simpler.'”
The Wildcats responded with a 73-60 win over then-No. 23 West Virginia last Saturday and a resounding 85-57 victory over Oklahoma State on Wednesday.
Kansas State now will go for its first three-game winning streak of the season.
David N’Guessan leads the Wildcats with an average of 12.3 points per game. Brendan Hausen is second at 12.0, and Coleman Hawkins ranks third at 10.9 points to go with a team-high 7.1 rebounds.
Otzelberger said Hawkins’ value goes beyond his statistics.
“Hawkins is a terrific mismatch player, and they use him in a lot of ways,” Otzelberger said. “The way that he can shoot it, post at the mid-post, drive it (and) beat you off the dribble to the rim — he creates a matchup situation. You’ve got to be intentional guarding him.”
Iowa State is led in scoring by Curtis Jones, who is averaging 18.1 points a game. Keshon Gilbert (15.6), Joshua Jefferson (12.9) and Tamin Lipsey (10.4) round out the team’s top four scorers.
The Cyclones will remain without Milan Momcilovic, who has missed the past five games because of a hand injury. The sophomore is averaging 10.3 points per game and is shooting 44.3 percent from beyond the arc.
“(His) cast is off,” Otzelberger said. “He’s doing strengthening exercises. I don’t know where we’re at in that time right now. Where are we at? Week 3? I would say four (weeks) is probably aggressive, but we’ll see.”
–Field Level Media
