AMES — After an offensive struggle against Indiana State, the No. 8 Cyclones will return to the court in hopes of earning their third consecutive win against Southern at 2 p.m. Sunday.

Although Iowa State took home a 64-42 win against the Sycamores, it experienced a rocky start. Throughout the first quarter, it was left chasing Indiana State. 

Quickly identifying their weak spot of scoring, the Cyclones switched to a more defensive approach which left the Sycamores in a lack of scoring opportunities. Iowa State’s defense left a big mark on its opponent’s offense, as the Cyclones walked away with a team contribution of 13 steals and 10 blocks.

“When the game starts, your job and your goal is to figure out a way to win,” Iowa State head coach Bill Fennelly said. “Offensively, we set the sport back a lot, but I thought defensively we did really good, and when you shoot the way we shot tonight, you have to look at something positive to have success.”

With a second-half turnaround, Iowa State was able to pull it together and give the team an 11-point lead over Indiana State. Still relying on defense, the Cyclones maintained ahead and gathered a 22-point win overall.

“I am disappointed in some of the things we did but proud of the fact that we woke up at halftime and competed,” Fennelly said.

Although having a rough offensive game, center Audi Crooks led the team with a team-high of 16 points, eight rebounds and three blocks.

Along with Crooks, forward Addy Brown had an outstanding game, accumulating 12 points, 10 rebounds, two assists, one block and two steals. 

As for Southern, the Jaguars suffered their second loss of the season against Missouri 66-51 on Thursday.

Similar to Iowa State, Southern had a slow start, going 0-for-3 from the 3-point mark and 1-for-13 in field goals. Southern only gathered points due to its two made free throws leading to and trailed 21-4 after the first quarter. 

Although they earned 18 points in the second quarter, the Jaguars were left chasing throughout the game due to their poor offense and slow score development.

The pattern continued throughout the third quarter, but in the last minutes of the game, Southern was able to pull together a combined total of 18 points compared to the Tigers’ 15. 

However, due to the team’s continuous offensive struggle, the Jaguars only contributed four 3-pointers and 19 field goals, ultimately leading to the 15-point loss.

Leading the team was senior guard Aniya Gourdine who scored a team-high 19 points, four rebounds and one assist, but she committed five turnovers.

Given both teams’ offensive struggles in their previous game, the outcome will rely heavily on the quality of the defenses provided by each team. Fennelly has addressed that although their offensive game was a disappointment, each player understands that they each have a job to provide success for the team to win.

“The message at half time and throughout the timeouts is, ‘What are you doing to impact success?’ and tonight it was not making baskets for anyone,” Fennelly said. “So let’s guard and hopefully make a free throw, and that’s what we did.”

The Cyclones will host Southern at 2 p.m. Sunday. The game will be live-streamed on ESPN+.