‘Underdogs again,’ Iowa State hopes to rekindle early-season ‘spirit’ in regular-season finale

AMES — “We’re back to being underdogs again.”

Saying those words coaxed a broad smile from Iowa State senior guard Jaren Holmes.

Adversity comes in a variety of forms — and Holmes knows the Cyclones are in the teeth of it as they prepare for Saturday’s 11 a.m. regular-season finale at No. 7 Baylor (ESPN2).

“I just smiled because everyone in the locker room has always been an underdog,” Holmes said. “So we’re back to being, I would say, comfortable. Comfortable with people doubting us. Comfortable with people kind of having a short leash on the mistakes we can make and different things like that — the belief in us. But everyone that believes that we can win is in this locker room and in this building.”

Wins have come in short supply lately for ISU (17-12, 8-9 Big 12), which has dropped six of its last seven games.

Couple that skid with Cyclones head coach T.J. Otzelberger’s decision to dismiss senior guard Caleb Grill for failing to live up to the program’s expectations, and it would seen ISU is a team rife with turmoil.

But appearances can be misleading.

“It starts with practice and we had a good one (Thursday),” Cyclone senior forward Osun Osunniyi said. “You want to stack days, so (Friday) come with the same mindset, same energy, same focus, and carry that all on to Baylor.”

ISU certainly is an underdog on the road against the Bears (22-8, 11-6), who have won six of their past eight games. The Cyclones trounced Baylor, 77-62, to open Big 12 Conference play and Otzelberger said his team is trying to recapture that “spirit” it played with early in conference play.

“(It) was as strong as any team in the country,” Otzelberger said. “So right now, more than spacing the floor, shooting the 3, or those sort of things, what we’re trying to do is extremely intentionally to make sure that we get that back. That we reclaim that the best we can, or get it all the way back so we’re playing with that spirit. We’re taking the charges, we’re diving for loose balls, we’re getting 50-50 balls, we’re blocking out. So as much as there’s a scheme part of this, we want that. We want that back because it’s in us. We’ve shown we can do it and we know what’s in front of us, so it’s my job to bring it back.”

Grill embodied that spirit until a painful back injury sustained in the Cyclones’ Jan. 17 win over Texas forced him to miss a handful of games while fighting through pain to play in several more. He was not himself — in terms of production, nor demeanor — and all of that came to a head that prompted his dismissal.

“I’m a fan of Caleb Grill and I want Caleb Grill to do well,” Otzelberger said. “I’ll continue to have his back moving forward however he wants me to do that. At the same time, it’s really important as the leader of this program, that the decisions that we make every single day always are in the best interest of our program. … We’ve got a lot in front of us yet this year.”

That’s true whether the Cyclones are considered favorites or long shots.

“It’s March,” Holmes said. “This game is beautiful because anybody can win on any given day.”

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