Iowa State has a one-track mind in prep for Virginia

AMES - The locker room that housed the Iowa State men's basketball team in Denver wasn't low on energy, but the buzz that one might expect with a team that is making it to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament was absent.

Sure there was the hooting and hollering - plus a whip and nae nae from Iowa State coach Steve Prohm - but after a few minutes, it was back to business. Iowa State has said all postseason it has no intention of stopping the train at the Sweet 16.

No. 4-seed Iowa State's one-track mind wasn't something it needed just for the first weekend. It's something that has to be intact - and even heightened - against 1-seed Virginia in the Midwest region semifinal on Friday at 6:10 p.m. (CBS) in Chicago.

'The biggest thing is just staying locked in on Virginia,” said senior Georges Niang, who scored 28 points in each first-round game. 'I think everything should be eat, sleep, breathe Virginia and on what we have to do to beat Virginia. I think that's the biggest thing for our team is just to get lost in them and think about what they're doing instead of the next round and stuff like that.”

Getting lost in the opponent is exactly how the Cyclones (23-11) thwarted upsets from 13-seed Iona and 12-seed Arkansas-Little Rock. The attention to detail in the up-tempo style of the Gaels and the grind-it-out, defensive philosophy of the Trojans provided no drama with Iowa State winning each game by double digits.

Virginia (28-7) will provide plenty of challenges that don't give Iowa State any luxury of looking ahead.

The Cavaliers are No. 4 in the USA Today Coaches Poll and are No. 1 on KenPom.com with adjusted offense and defense numbers both ranking in the top-10. They are No. 351 - last among all Division-I teams - in adjusted tempo with 62.4 possessions per game.

'They're physical, they're tough, they try to grind you out and we have to match their toughness,” Prohm said. 'We can't gamble. We've got to keep people in front, keep the ball out of the minute and then we have to get one shot. We had three really good halves of defense in Denver. The second half in Iona got a little too wild, but we're playing better defense right now.”

That defensive performance in the first and second rounds has to carry over if Iowa State is going to contend with the Virginia lineup. The Cavaliers have won seven of their last eight games - with the only loss in the ACC tournament title game - on the strength of Malcolm Brogdon, Anthony Gill and London Perrantes.

Brogdon, Gill and Perrantes all average double figures scoring and play 28 minutes or more per game. All three are upperclassmen - Brogdon and Gill are seniors while Perrantes is a junior - and are leading a team that has 10/11 odds according to Bovada.lv to represent the Midwest in the Final Four - and won't fly under the Cyclones radar.

'We're not trying to set ceilings for ourselves,” said senior Abdel Nader. 'We think we can do something special this year and we're just focused on that goal.”

After the short-lived celebration and media obligations, Iowa State hopped on a plane and even had a few players start scouting Virginia on Synergy. Players found out the hard way against UAB last season what can happen when you overlook a team and aren't ready.

This time around, they're staying in the moment.

'We want to get past that road block and get past the Sweet 16 to the Elite Eight or Final Four,” said junior Monte Morris. 'We're going to take it one game at a time. We'll really celebrate when we're going to Houston.”

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