ISU hoops notes: Royce White from 3, Driveways and Texas Tech worries

AMES - Iowa State's Royce White is feeling it from beyond the arc and don't expect the 6-8, 270-pound forward to shy away from the occasional long range shot as the season wears on.

“Especially with the way they're playing dribble handoffs,” said White, who is 2-for-3 from 3-point range entering Saturday's game at Texas Tech. “It will be something I'll need to do and I'll continue to get in the gym and work on my stroke.”

White's shooting better from 3-point range (67 percent) and on all field goal tries (54.5 percent) than he is at the free throw line (52.9 percent).

So the touch is there - and White's feeling increasingly good about his shot from all distances.

“I'm getting back comfortable with the things I used to do in high school,” White said. "Shooting threes has never been a problem. I've got decent mechanics and if you leave me that open - anyone can line a shot up and shoot it.”

LEERY OF LOSERS: Texas Tech's 0-5 start to conference play has White concerned.

Every team has its day, he said, and the reeling Red Raiders are no different.

“It actually worries me to go and play a team like Texas Tech (on the road) because if you think about it, they're due for a win,” White said. “We're hoping it's not us. You know at some point they're going to come out and put it all together and that happens in basketball - where a team's going to come out and have everything go right and the shooters are going to shoot unbelievably.”

DRIVEWAY DREAMS: Scott Christopherson's buzzer-beating 25-footer to win Wednesday's game over Oklahoma State was a product of team-wide hard work, he said.

“It's just something that's almost an out of body experience,” said Christopherson, who scored 17 points in the 71-68 win. “You don't know what you're going to do when that happens until it happens. There was a lot of hard work from our team that went into that game.”

And from Christopherson while growing up, in mock time-winding-down moments.

“I remember being a kid and it was always, ‘5-4-3-2-1 ...'” he said. “A lot of shots in my driveway have gone into that. I was very grateful I was put in a position to make a play and very grateful that I was fortunate enough (it went) in.”

It was also Christopherson's second top-3 ESPN SportsCenter play in a week.

The first, a near half-court hoist before halftime in the Jan. 11 Missouri loss, ranked No. 1.

“It's different. It's kind of embarrassing to watch yourself on TV,” Christopherson said. “I don't really like the attention with stuff like that. The attention should be on our team that we won the game. But I understand some of that comes with it.”

TECH TALK: ISU coach Fred Hoiberg said Texas Tech's a disciplined team with good players - 0-5 conference mark and all.

“They really defend you,” Hoiberg said of the Red Raiders. “They execute their offense really well. They cut hard. They play extremely hard.”

They've also had a hard time snaring steals and stopping turnovers.

Texas Tech ranks 278th of 338 teams in steals per game (5.5) and 328th in turnovers lost (17.1).

“There's no way we should let them play close to us, to be honest,” Cyclone guard Tyrus McGee said.