ISU hoops notes: Bad Lickliter memories, Booker PT, White's alarm clock

AMES - Iowa State guard Chris Allen is familiar with Iowa basketball.

Not Fran McCaffrey's program, but Todd Lickliter's.

Suffice it to say he welcomes the up-tempo change entering Friday's 7 p.m. matchup between the Cyclones and the Hawkeyes.

"It was horrible," Allen, a senior transfer who played for Michigan State in four games against Iowa, said of facing Lickliter's teams. "They would do six or seven ball screens throughout one possession. It was crazy, because we were playing defense for 30 seconds and if they got the rebound, that's another 30 seconds on defense. It was torture, honestly."

Especially the January 2008 loss in Iowa City.

Lickliter's Hawks used a grinding approach to shock the No. 6 Spartans, 43-36.

Who starred for Iowa that day?

"Tony Freeman, that little guard," Allen said.

***

Forward Anthony Booker can't tell you why he didn't play one second in Tuesday's 84-59 whitewash of outmanned Prairie View A&M.

Does he expect to play Friday?

"I should," said the Southern Illinois transfer, who is averaging 3.6 points and 3.1 rebounds. "I don't really know why I didn't play, but I'm not going to argue with it. I'm going to take it like it is and move on."

Will he play?

Cyclone coach Fred Hoiberg didn't say yes or no.

“The big thing for all our players is to go out there and play consistently hard basketball, play hard minutes,” he said.

***

Ding-ding-ding.

Royce White didn't start Tuesday's game because he was a couple minutes late for a game day shoot around.

Here's how he ended up being tardy:

"It was around 12:40 (p.m.) and I called Chris Babb and we usually ride together, so I said I'm setting my alarm clock for 1:40," said White, who had a season-low three rebounds in the win." And for some odd reason, my cell phone alarm just didn't go off. It just speaks to the fact that you shouldn't depend on electronics. That's the bottom line. So then when we came back for the second time we had to be there, which was at 5:30 after our pregame meal, I set every alarm in the house - the microwave, TVs, the whole deal. It was one of those weird, funny things and it affected me out there."

In other news: White said he was "one of the first on the field" after ISU's 44-41 triple-overtime football win over Iowa.

"It's exciting," White said of suiting up for his first Cy-Hawk Series matchup. "I'm ready."

***

Chris Babb was one of the hottest 3-point shooters in the nation - until the past two games.

He's 2-for-16 from long range in that span, but still maintains a respectable 42.2 percent 3-point shooting number.

"I talk to my dad, who's been my shot coach forever," Babb said of working through the struggles. "He told me to keep shooting it and told me a couple things that he noticed. That's why I'm in here early before practice, working on that and trying to focus and keep my confidence in knocking them down.”

***

White's faulty alarm clock allowed freshman Percy Gibson to make his first career start against Prairie View A&M.

He shined, scoring 15 points and grabbing seven rebounds.

His friends and relatives from back in Detroit let him hear, er, text about it, too.

"There were a lot of text messages," said Gibson, who's expected to start for Melvin Ejim Friday. "Everybody was saying how proud they were, so I didn't mind responding to them."