Cyclones raising their game in crunch time

NEW YORK - Iowa State's late-game numbers stagger the mind.

The reasons behind them?

Not so much.

By now, it's widely known the Cyclones (28-7) enter Friday's 6:27 p.m. NCAA tournament East regional semifinal against seventh-seeded Connecticut (28-8) shooting 85.7 percent in the last five minutes of the last five games.

On 3-pointers?

Third-seeded ISU (28-7) is 8-for-9 in that span - with the biggest ones coming from slick-shooting sixth man Naz Long.

“It's everything we've expected,” Long said with a shrug. “And I'm not saying that to be cocky.”

He could be, but he's not.

The long road to Madison Square Garden and the Cyclones' first Sweet 16 appearance in 14 years began in the summertime.

Star guard DeAndre Kane had just arrived on campus, months removed from a three-year, tournament-free run with the Marshall Thundering Herd.

Players met, worked out, began meshing.

A “brotherhood” formed.

From that flowed confidence.

Still later, firm belief - not just in each other, but in as collective dream that extended deep into March.

“Everybody was getting a feel for each other,” recalled freshman point guard Monte Morris, who has hit 17 straight free throws. “But we would still go situational basketball. … So we tried to do situational things and just tried to play for game-winners - just getting our bodies and our mentality used to taking big shots.”

So here they are: About to ascend the basketball world's biggest stage of all.

The Garden.

The “World's Most Famous Arena.”

A hallowed place, by the way, the Huskies have played in 111 times as a member of the old Big East.

All of which means …

“At the end of the day, we played here a bunch of times, but the court is still the same,” said UConn first-team all-American guard Shabazz Napier. “It's going to be the same for Iowa State.”

But something's different about these Cyclones, who could reach the Elite Eight for the second time in school history.

“We're playing, knock on wood, our best basketball of the season,” ISU Coach Fred Hoiberg said.

Instead of experiencing last-second bank shots, or controversial calls, to beat them, the Cyclones are brandishing the daggers and conjuring breathless exclamations - onions! - from TV analysts.

“With this team you'd be tired early,” CBS Sports commentator Bill Raftery said of his trademark term. “You'd be out of the vegetable market.”

The Huskies recognize it's Kane that's pushing ISU's cart through the produce aisle.

Kane hit the game-winner Sunday against North Carolina and is averaging 18.8 points, 7.5 rebounds and 6.8 assists in the last four games.

“We're going to have to really, really load against him and have him see a lot of jerseys that say, ‘Connecticut,'” Huskies Coach Kevin Ollie said. “It's going to have to be ten eyes on him at all times.”

Same goes for Napier, but it's likely Kane's two eyes - and hands - will dart toward him initially.

“DeAndre's going to start out on him,” Morris said. “Try to force him into a few turnovers with his size early.”

From there, it's all based on numbers that form a committee intent on one thing: Advancing, whether by last-second shot, stop or steal.

“We did a lot of great things this year, but we're not done yet,” Kane said. “We still have a lot of things to accomplish.”