No. 4 Iowa State men aim to reinforce their No. 1 seed-worthy identity Tuesday at Utah

What a difference several hours can make.

Take Saturday.

The No. 4 Iowa State men’s basketball team found out at around 12:30 p.m. central time that it would have been one of the top four seeds in the NCAA Tournament if the event started that day. A few hours later, No. 2 Arizona beat No. 5 Houston on the road, and a few hours after that, the Cyclones lost, 79-69, at No. 19 BYU.

So call it chaos. Or maybe even madness. But one thing is certain: as February melts into March, every game will matter as ISU (23-4, 10-4 Big 12) seeks to put itself in prime position to be a national championship contender.

Next up: The Cyclones’ only meeting this season with last-place Utah (10-17, 2-12) at 8 p.m. (FS1) in Salt Lake City.

And if they hope to remain in that No. 1 seed conversation, there can be so slip ups, regardless of the foe, regardless of the atmosphere.

“You’ve got to earn it every game, every day,” ISU’s record-setting senior point guard Tamin Lipsey told reporters after the loss to the Cougars. “And obviously we didn't earn the right to be there (Saturday night).”

BYU outscored ISU 40 to 22 in points in the paint and doubled the Cyclones’ number of offensive rebounds (12-6). When ISU has success, it generally shines in those areas, and when it stumbles, the opponents have usually turned the tables. So guarding against those infrequent, but glaring role reversals is of paramount importance in the final two weeks of the regular season and beyond.

“Again, for us, we need to understand that teams are gonna come out and we’re gonna get their best shot based on what we’ve accomplished to this point and what our guys have done,” Cyclones head coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “So we have to have a tremendous sense of urgency (and) desperation when we come into these games. We need to be the team that's the aggressor. And unfortunately, at times, our offensive disappointment has affected our defensive pressure and our ability to turn people over. That's who we are, and that's where at our best, so we need to do a great job focusing on the physicality — the things we need to do defensively — and that will carry over for us offensively.”

A look at the box scores of ISU’s four losses reinforces Otzelberger’s point. The Cyclones have scored 70 or fewer points in each of those setbacks, but have scored more than 70 points in 21 of their 23 wins.

So when the shots aren’t falling, there has been an unwelcome ripple effect.

“You don’t want to continue to learn the same lesson,” Otzelberger said. “We have tremendous confidence in our group and the young men on our team, in our locker room, and we've got to make sure that when we have these opportunities, that we maximize them by always being who we are and playing to our identity.”

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