IOWA CITY, Iowa — Curtis Jones knows how good the group around him really is, even if most of the attention at the top of the college basketball world is largely elsewhere.
The final six minutes at Carver-Hawkeye Arena Thursday night proved that.
No. 3 Iowa State rallied from a 13-point deficit Thursday to earn an 89-80 victory over Iowa — which played about as well as it could have asked before slide down the home stretch. That pushed the Cyclones to 8-1 on the season with conference play around the corner.
While there are plenty of other great teams, both in the Big 12 and elsewhere, Jones pulls no punches when it comes to ranking him and his teammates. They belong at the top.
“I don’t feel any pressure about it. I’m confident about that,” Jones said. “Yes, we are one of the best teams in the country.
“I feel like it shows. We have the talent, we have the personnel, we have the cohesion. I feel like we have what it takes to go far, and I’m really confident in our abilities.
Iowa State rallies to beat Iowa
Iowa gave the Cyclones just about everything they had Thursday night. And for most of the game, it looked like it was going to work.
The Hawkeyes, who made seven 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes, took a 13-point lead just before halftime. Each time the Cyclones fought back in the second half, Iowa responded to stay ahead. But unlike last month’s Maui Invitational, where Iowa State suffered its only loss to Auburn, the Cylones held on this time.
Iowa State took the lead in the final six minutes of the game once Iowa went cold. The Hawkeyes only made two field goals from that point, both coming in unnecessary delays, and Iowa State took full advantage. It was a slow battle – the team didn’t take the lead for the first time until three minutes into the second half – but they won by nine points.
Jones dropped a game-high 23 points off the bench for Iowa State while shooting 5 of 8 from behind the arc. Joshua Jefferson added 19 points and 10 rebounds, and Dishon Jackson added 12 points inside.
“They’re one of the best teams in the country, if not the best right now. We’ve been there with them for a long time,” said Iowa’s Payton Sandfort, who finished with 13 points and five rebounds in the loss. “Props to them for the way they played… It kind of speaks to how they have energy throughout the game. They have a group of guys that can play, they have shooters, they have rebounders, they can defend… They’re going to win a lot of games.
How far can Iowa State actually go?
With the non-conference slate behind him, save for games against Omaha and Morgan State in the coming days, head coach TJ Otzelberger will now be tasked with leading the Cyclones through the best conference in basketball.
The Big 12 can ruin any team, no matter how good they are. Just look at Kansas last year, which started the season as the top-ranked team in the country, then lost nine of its last 18 conference games. But Iowa State, currently holding its highest ranking in program history, may be in the best position to attempt to win what would be its first regular-season conference title since 2001.
The Cyclones’ only loss this season came after an Auburn game-winning bucket in Maui last month. Otherwise, ISU handled matters when necessary. The Cyclones led most of the way in beating Kam Jones and then No. 5 Marquette last week, and they cruised to a nearly 30-point win over Big 12 foe Colorado in Hawaii.
The Cyclones don’t really have a single star either, the same way Duke has Cooper Flagg or Kansas has Hunter Dickinson. All five Cyclones starters are averaging double figures, led by guard Keshon Gilbert with 17.4 points per game. He had nine points and six rebounds Thursday night.
They can and should turn to anyone at any time. Otzelberger attributes this successful strategy in part to the fact that they brought back nine players from last year’s team.
“I think it’s dangerous, because you can only put your best defender on one guy,” Jones said. “We have a lot of weapons…I really trust anyone with the ball, that’s what I think makes us so dangerous.” If you have a weak link in defense, I think we’ll go for it.
Iowa State is bound to find itself in similar situations to Thursday night in the months to come. But now that they’ve “weathered the storm” and escaped with a win in a big game, Jones and the Cyclones know what they’re capable of. It’s just a matter of accomplishing this over and over again.
“We didn’t break up (tonight), which happens in a lot of programs when things start to go wrong, especially with the pressure we have from outside,” Jones said. “I don’t really think we felt that pressure, but it’s a credit to our experience.”