Steve Prohm says 'I've got to be me,' Cyclones now prepare for No. 1 Oklahoma

AMES — Iowa State coach Steve Prohm has made it a habit to shed his suit jacket before the first media timeout in every game. Watching him do it at Kansas State wasn't unusual.

When Prohm undid his red tie and set it aside late in his team's win against the Wildcats, it was something that raised some questions. After all, there was a certain former Iowa State coach — ahem, Fred Hoiberg — that would go sans tie during games.

'Man, I was just needing to get rid of it,' Prohm said. 'I was just ready to get rid of it. This shirt's a little tight up top, so I just needed a little breathing room. That's it.'

There wasn't any complex reason for Prohm ditching his tie, but it did symbolize a new approach he's trying to take. With Oklahoma — likely about to be the new No. 1 team in the country — invading Hilton Coliseum for Big Monday, a slightly varied approach wouldn't hurt.

After No. 18 Iowa State (13-4, 2-3) dropped games to Baylor and at Texas, Prohm gathered his guys for a team meeting. The first-year Cyclones coach wants to allow his team to play with a lot of freedom, but that freedom has to be within the structure of a larger system on both ends of the court.

'I told them, 'Hey, I've got to be me. This is who I am, this is what I'm about,'' Prohm said. 'I want to fit in, but I want to do things the way I want to do them.'

'It's not drastic, but I've been in situations like this before to where last year I had to get uncomfortable and I've got to get uncomfortable here to do the best job I can do with this team,' he added. 'Now that doesn't mean were going to win 15 in a row but it means this team's going to max out and that's my biggest goal, just to max this team out.'

Prohm suspending Hallice Cooke for Saturday's win at Kansas State — Cooke failed to meet the standard in practice Prohm was trying to implement — is a version of New Steve. Finding ways to tweak the defense — playing some 2-3 zone — while slowing it down at times on offense will be some of the differences the Cyclones will try to use against the Sooners (15-1, 4-1).

Sixteen days separate the two meetings between Iowa State and Oklahoma and the Sooners have only trended upward since that first game on Jan. 2. With Oklahoma poised to move to No. 1 in both major polls, it will be the first time Iowa State will play the top-ranked team since 2012 against Kentucky in the NCAA tournament.

Iowa State is 1-17 all time against No. 1 teams with the lone win coming in 1957 when it beat No. 1 Kansas, which was led by Wilt Chamberlain. Unlike that game in 1957, these reenergized Cyclones will have a chance to take down No. 1 in front of a national audience.

'I'm hype. I know my teammates are going to be hype,' said Monte Morris. 'My coaching staff's going to be hype. When you can get revenge on someone on ESPN, you know the whole world's going to be watching, we're going to try to give them a classic. Should be a good one.'

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