Brackins smelled blood, Hawkeyes stayed battered

AMES - The brightest spot about Iowa men's basketball Friday night?

It won't have to face Iowa State's Craig Brackins next season.

Iowa is 3-7 with double-digit losses to Northern Iowa and now the Cyclones. That's as sour a record as the Hawkeyes have owned in December since – well, too long to waste time researching.

This was Iowa State's night, and the Cyclones needed a win just as badly as the Hawkeyes still need one. ISU came into Hilton Coliseum reeling.

After a 6-0 record built on wins over “States” of basketball mediocrity (Idaho State, Chicago State, Mississippi Valley State, Tennessee State), the Cyclones started playing somebody. And losing.

Northwestern, UNI and California turned that 6-0 into 6-3 and got Cyclone fans spinning counterclockwise once again when the subject was coach Greg McDermott.

“Nobody's expectations on the outside are higher than what we have in the locker room,” McDermott said.

“That's why we worked hard this week to fix it.”

The fix was greatly aided by the fact the Cyclones have Brackins and Iowa ... does not. For all the yapping about coaches and systems, the simple truth about major-college basketball is you need big-time players. Bo Ryan's offense isn't racehorse at Wisconsin, but he's had NBA talent pass through the Kohl Center.

Brackins is such a talent. If he consistently brings the game he brought Friday before he sets sail to the NBA next summer, he'll truly be a big-time collegian.

Before the opening tip, it was clear the game would revolve around Brackins. His body language was that of a prizefighter looking to come out swinging and not stop. He hopped around, did more hand-clapping than most of the fans in the front-row seats across the court from the teams' benches did all night.

The junior had 20 points by halftime. He seemed more pleased when his sweet feed gave LeRon Dendy a lay-in with 9:05 left for a 16-point Cyclones lead than after any of his own baskets.

Brackins closed with 28 points, 8 rebounds, 4 blocked shots, 3 assists, and an arena-full of fire.

“It was just there for me,” he said, which was similar to something UNI guard Kwadzo Ahelegbe said Tuesday night when the Panthers carved up the Hawkeyes.

McDermott and his players credited a week of spirited practices for getting their minds right. The coach said a 90-minute discussion group he led Monday before practice got the week off to a good start after a blowout loss at Cal two days earlier.

“We have to move on and keep getting better,” McDermott said. In his fourth season as the Cyclones' coach, it's high time for his first winning season. He seems to have the players to pull it off, but they have a ways to travel.

Iowa, meanwhile, is a program stuck in a snowstorm. You can't have much worse weeks than having your coach undergo an extremely serious medical procedure, for a carotid artery. Losing to two in-state rivals and getting stuck in Cedar Falls for over a full day because of a blizzard made a grim week all the darker.

Todd Lickliter is expected to return to the sideline next Saturday for a home game against Drake. Then comes South Carolina State. Then comes 18 Big Ten games against teams as good or better than Iowa State, with the exception of Penn State.

Is a candle burning anywhere for this team?

“When you're down 14, 16, 18 points,” acting Iowa head coach Chad Walthall said, “it can go to 30 pretty quick if you're not playing the right way.”

So Iowa played the “right way” late in the game, getting three 3-pointers by Cully Payne to lose by 10. But the Cyclones won easily, whether the final score indicates it or not.

They, after all, have Brackins. An NBA player-in-waiting. The kind of player who used to pass through our state regularly but has become a rare treat.

For now, Iowa State clings to beating Iowa soundly. The Hawkeyes cling to not getting blown out at Iowa State. What either really means is arguable.