For just the second time in the past two years, Iowa State has lost at home.
The 10th-ranked Cyclones fell to No. 23 BYU 88-85 in a dramatic, double overtime affair Tuesday night that should go down as one of the most memorable contests in all of college basketball this season.
“BYU deserves a lot of credit in how they came in here and how they played, but at the same time we know we had our chances and we had our opportunities,” Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger told reporters after the game. “So that should be frustrating, and then what you do is you learn from it and become better for it.”
The Cyclones’ defensive pressure troubled BYU early, with the Cougars failing to find the scoreboard until nearly seven minutes had been played.
Once they woke up, however, the Cougars were off to the races, ending the first half on a 23-7 run. They then went on a 21-9 tear coming out of halftime to lead by 21 points with 13 minutes left to play in regulation.
“When we dug ourself a hole and were down 21, and it’s unacceptable on our end to allow our offensive disappointment to permeate our defense,” Otzelberger said. “We were careless in transition defense, we were not as locked in and we dug ourself a substantial hole.
“That is where, to me, the game was decided over that 15 or 16 minute stretch, where we put ourself in that tough spot. ... We set the tone physically defensively right from the jump, and then they adjusted and drove the ball with more force. To their credit, that got them back into the game and helped them build that (winning) margin, and we weren’t as tough as we needed to be.”
Iowa State stormed back with a vengeance, closing out the second half on a 35-14 heater to tie the score, stun the Cougars and force overtime.
Though he appreciated the effort from his players to rally back, Otzelberger was still disappointed in them having been in such a position in the first place.
“Credit to our guys and their fight for continuing to compete and get back into it, but at the same time, you can’t (slow down) against good teams. You’ve got to have more pride,” he said. “It’s a lesson that we should have learned by now and should never have to learn again.”
Following two five-minute overtime periods, BYU escaped with a three-point victory, having forced a shot clock violation on the Cyclones in the final seconds to seal the hard-fought road upset.
Shockingly, the Cougars won despite committing a jarring 29 turnovers Tuesday night. BYU was able to overcome such ugliness in the rebounding battle, grabbing 52 total boards — with 17 coming on the offensive glass — to Iowa State’s 24.
In overtime alone, the Cougars outrebounded the Cyclones 12 to four.
“We turned them over more because we were playing faster, more quicker lineups and were able to pressure the basketball, and (with that) what you give up is a little bit of size and physicality on the glass,” Otzelberger said. “At the same time, I know that our guys are competitors, and it can’t be that every shot that we miss in the end of regulation and both overtimes that (BYU) gets the rebound. It can’t happen, that’s not OK ... we’ve got to do a great job finishing on the glass, and we didn’t.
“There’s a part in defensive rebounding where if you want to win bad enough, you just find a way to get (rebounds), regardless of what’s going on. They had more fight on the glass to get the offensive rebound than we did to get the defensive rebound, unfortunately.”
With the loss, BYU captures the No. 4 seed in the Big 12 tournament along with a double bye. Iowa State, the tournament’s No. 5 seed, will face the winner of a No. 12 and No. 13 seed matchup next Wednesday.
Should the Cyclones win that game, they would earn a rematch with the Cougars in the tournament quarterfinals.
“We’ve talked to our guys a lot about our best being in front of us, and you don’t just speak it into existence. You’ve got to earn it with hard work and with what you do in practice and then demand that consistency of those habits in the game and not be a team that plays great for stretches and plays awful for stretches,” Otzelberger said.
“For a group that has a lot of older, experienced guys, we need to be a lot more mature as a team and play through those things instead of reacting to those things.”