Talen Horton-Tucker comes up big in Iowa State’s Big 12 tournament win over Baylor

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Iowa State freshman Talen Horton-Tucker had one of the better games of his young career Thursday.

He scored 21 points on 8-for-15 shooting from the field and 5-for-9 shooting from beyond the arc. He also had four rebounds, three blocks and two assists in Iowa State's 83-66 win over Baylor in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament at Sprint Center.

But maybe the biggest thing he did was match the toughness of Baylor's Mark Vital. Horton-Tucker put a body on Vital every time a shot went up to help make sure he stayed off the offensive glass.

'I felt like I did pretty good today,” Horton-Tucker said. 'The last two times, he was a lot more physical than me. That's another thing, with me being a freshman - I'm not making any excuses - but these guys know what's going on, I didn't know what was going on, so matching his intensity this game was progress and really good. I'm really happy I was able to do that.”

He credits his toughness to his upbringing, and he wanted to prove it Thursday.

'I'm from Chicago,” Horton-Tucker said. 'We're tough.”

His contributions didn't go unnoticed from his teammates.

'He played great,” senior Nick Weiler-Babb said. 'He was one of our X-factors today, no question. He scored the ball, but on the defensive end he was grabbing rebounds, playing tough and getting stops for us.”

Horton-Tucker has been good all season. He was named to the Big 12 all-freshman team after averaging 12.2 points per game. But he can get himself in trouble sometimes when he dribbles too much. Horton-Tucker tends to end possessions on a low-percentage shot after dribbling around.

Thursday, he stayed away from difficult step-back shots.

'He's really good,” Iowa State coach Steve Prohm said. 'When the floor is spread, he's tough to handle off the dribble and when he's being more direct from A to B instead of A, B, C, D, E to get to F. When he goes in a direct line, he's tough. When he's making shots, it adds another element to his game.”

Wednesday, Horton-Tucker said he lived for big stages and Thursday he proved it, in part thanks to his decisiveness on offense.

'I feel like I was born for big stages,” Horton-Tucker said. 'That's why I got into basketball.”

Horton-Tucker has a chance to prove it over the next couple of days and weeks in the Big 12 and NCAA tournaments.

The No. 5-seeded Cyclones play either No. 1-seed Kansas State or No. 8-seed TCU in the semifinals at 6 p.m. Friday. Iowa State split with Kansas State during the regular season, each team winning on the other's home court. Iowa State was swept by TCU.

'He's a big-time player,” fellow freshman Tyrese Haliburton said. 'And big-time players make big-time plays in big-time games. That's just what he does.”

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