Oklahoma State, Iowa State peaking at right time (Mar 09, 2017)
Two squads that are peaking at the right time will square off in the opening game of the second round of the Big 12 Championship. Oklahoma State (20-11, 9-9 Big 12) and Iowa State (20-10, 12-6 Big 12) will battle to see who likely will see No. 1 Kansas in the semifinals.
Oklahoma State looked like anything but an NCAA tournament-bound team after six games into the Big 12 season. First-year head coach Brad Underwood was staring at a 10-8 record overall, 0-6 in the Big 12.
"I hope they're not handling it very well cause I'm not, and that's been a problem," Underwood said at the time. "When you have not won, that's not good. By golly, we've got to change that. We can do it in practice and we have to carry it over."
Apparently, they did, as the Cowboys won 10 of their next 11 games. But that streak was stopped with an 86-83 loss at Iowa State, the second loss of the season to the Cyclones. The Cowboys look to run, and they lead the Big 12 in scoring at 85.6 points per game. Unfortunately, they give up the most points per game in the conference as well at 77.6.
Iowa State uses a balanced scoring attack, with four players in the top 18 in scoring in the Big 12. Monte Morris leads the Cyclones with 16.2 ppg (sixth in the conference). He is joined by Naz Mitrou-Long with 16.0 (seventh), Deante Burton with 14.4 (ninth) and Matt Thomas with 12.2 (18th).
The Cyclones were coming on strong at the end of the season, with a six-game winning streak before a loss at No. 7 West Virginia in the final game of the regular season. They also can claim the first road victory at Kansas in more than three seasons. They hit a school-record 18 3-point baskets in that game, something they've done well all year. They've made the most long-range baskets in the conference, just under 10 makes per game.
Whichever team continues to make plays will move on to the semifinals. The other will have to wait until Sunday to find out their next opponent.
