Oklahoma State routs Iowa State, 53-36, on Senior Night in Ames

AMES — It didn’t matter if opportunities came in the paint, from long range, or even at the free-throw line.

Iowa State simply struggled to hit shots from anywhere on the floor Wednesday against Oklahoma State and fell, 53-36, on Senior Night at Hilton Coliseum.

How did it happen? Why did it happen? How to prevent it from happening again?

There’s no easy answer to any of those questions, but it starts with recommitting to what’s gotten the Cyclones (20-10, 7-10 Big 12) to this point of an otherwise revitalizing season.

“With nights like that on offense, you’ve got to hang your hat on defense,” said ISU star guard Izaiah Brockington, who led his team with 13 points, but shot just 5-for-17 from the field. “You can’t let missing shots dictate our effort on defense.”

That’s what happened Wednesday as the Cowboys (14-15, 7-10) used a late 17-3 push to squash ISU’s four-game winning streak.

Avery Anderson led a balanced Oklahoma State scoring effort with 12 points. The Cowboys carved out a 45-27 rebounding edge and outscored the Cyclones 17-6 in points off turnovers, despite losing 22 turnovers of their own.

“That allowed them to separate as well,” ISU head coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “So not what we’ve seen in practice the past few days, but certainly not the performance we wanted to have. Felt we had been playing great, our confidence was great, obviously didn’t show up tonight.”

Ten of ISU’s 16 turnovers came in live-ball situations, which fueled Oklahoma State’s ability to flourish in transition.

“When shots aren’t falling and they’re the team that’s seemingly playing harder, that’s not a great combination for us,” Otzelberger said. “So the live-ball turnovers, the rebounding — to get outrebounded by 18, especially on our court — those are things that are just really out of character and disappointing.”

Still, ISU remained in the game well into the second half. Oklahoma State held just a 22-20 lead at the break and the Cyclones tied the game at 30-30 on a Robert Jones layup with 14:32 remaining.

But that’s when ISU’s shooting woes bled into all aspects of its game.

The Cowboys drained nine of their final 17 shots after Jones tied the score and the Cyclones couldn’t mount much resistance down the stretch.

“We were definitely out of character tonight (and) didn’t have that chip on our shoulder that we need to have,” Otzelberger said. “Didn’t play with the toughness, physical effort, the want-to that we developed our identity around. We’re not a good enough team to just show up and think that teams are just gonna let us get the victory.”

Certainly not against a similarly defensive-driven team like Oklahoma State, which already owns wins over No. 21 Texas and third-ranked Baylor this season. The Cowboys beat the Bears, 61-54, on Jan. 15 in Waco — and that happens to be where the Cyclones will close their regular season on Saturday.

“Very disappointing, but credit to them,” Otzelberger said of Oklahoma State. “They came in here and physically they really wanted to win. Their spirit was a lot better than ours and that’s very humbling to admit.”

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