No. 23 Iowa State seeks to ‘reclaim’ penchant for road success Tuesday at No. 8 Texas

AMES — Thirty-four days.

That’s how much time has passed since Iowa State beat Texas, 78-67, to start 5-0 in Big 12 men’s basketball play for the first time in 23 years.

The No. 23 Cyclones (17-9, 8-6) have lost six of nine conference games since that triumph, but now come full circle with the eighth-ranked and league-leading Longhorns (21-6, 10-4).

The regular-season rematch is set for 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Moody Center in Austin — and ISU must shake off its recent woes to retain hopes of a regular-season sweep.

“It’s an opportunity to kind of reclaim how we were playing on the road early in league play,” said Cyclones head coach T.J. Otzelberger, whose team is tied for fourth in the Big 12 standings with Kansas State. “We got those two (road) wins right at the start, so I think it’s far more about us, what we do, and taking advantage of that opportunity.”

Texas aims to make that difficult and possesses the wide-ranging talent and swagger to exact revenge for the setback in Ames. The Longhorns won four consecutive conference games after that loss and are 3-0 in games decided by five points or fewer since succumbing to the Cyclones.

“They have a lot of good guys,” said ISU forward Osun Osunniyi, who scored 11 points while grabbing seven rebounds in the previous meeting with Texas. “They play fast. One through five, they’re all good players.”

Better make that one through at least six, though. The Longhorns’ recent string of success hinges on a variety of factors, but the improved play of sixth man Sir’Jabari Rice may be chief among them. Rice has scored 24 points in Texas’ last two wins — double his season average. Couple that with the consistently good play from fellow guard Marcus Carr and it’s no wonder the Longhorns are the lone Big 12 team that hasn’t lost back-to-back games in league play.

“Two older, experienced guards that have really made plays for them down the stretch,” Otzelberger said. “If you’re gonna win close games, especially in this league — I think they’ve probably had six close games that they’ve won. Usually it’s going to come down to that guard play late; making foul shots, taking care of the basketball. Those guys have done a great job of that.”

The Cyclones have done a great job of being resilient in each of Otzelberger’s first two seasons at the helm, but the margin for error remains vanishingly small. All six of ISU’s conference losses have come by eight or fewer points and Otzelberger said sharpshooting senior guard Caleb Grill — who is battling back issues sustained late in the previous win over the Longhorns — is questionable for Tuesday’s game.

“It’s still a day-to-day thing,” Otzelberger said. “Just seeing how he’s feeling and seeing how it’s going. He (was) out there (Monday) for practice, so we’re just taking it in stride.”

It’s all the Cyclones can do, while still aiming to sweep the Longhorns for the first time since 2015.

“I think it’s gonna be intense,” ISU guard Jaren Holmes said. “Especially (because of) how we won here. They’re gonna try to come out with a little more energy and a little more excitement, and we’re gonna do the same thing. We’re gonna come out and be ready to play.”

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