AMES – With the regular season wrapped up, the Cyclones secured the seventh seed in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament, giving them a bye for the first round.
Despite starting the season ranked No. 8 in the nation, Iowa State ended the season on a high note, winning six of its last seven games. The final win was the biggest of them all, as the Cyclones dominated No. 14 Kansas State 85-63 at home.
There are no days off during the Big 12 Tournament, with no days in between games for teams that continue to win. A lot is at stake as well, with the champion automatically qualifying for the NCAA Tournament.
“It’s definitely really hard, but honestly it’s kind of fun because your adrenaline keeps going,” junior guard/forward Sydney Harris said. “Like we’re on the run, you know, there’s no days off.”
The top four seeds, which received double byes, are, in order, TCU, Baylor, Oklahoma State and West Virginia. Unfortunately for Iowa State, it lost to each of those teams during the regular season. On the other hand, that also means the Cyclones know what to look out for when playing against them.
“You look at the top six teams in our league, I went through it this morning, I mean everyone is seniors or graduate students,” head coach Bill Fennelly said. “The top half of our league is really old, and that seems to be the model.”
Iowa State will take the court for its first game at 5:30 p.m. Thursday against either Arizona State or Cincinnati. In the regular season matchup with Cincinnati, the Cyclones took care of business with a 20-point win on the road. When the Cyclones played at Arizona State, it was one of the highest-scoring affairs of the season, resulting in a 90-83 win for Iowa State.
Although the Cyclones do not yet know who they will take on when the game tips off on Thursday, they know it’ll be against a team they can beat, considering they’ve beaten both already this season.
On Tuesday, it was announced that three Cyclones were named to All-Big 12 teams. Sophomore center Audi Crooks was named to the first team, the only unanimous sophomore selection. Sophomore forward Addy Brown was second team and fifth-year senior guard Emily Ryan was an honorable mention.
With confidence built up and ending the season with a statement win, the Cyclones are confident heading into the tournament. The path looks quite tough for Iowa State, though, even with top-seed TCU being on the other side of the bracket.
“It’s when most teams are at their sharpest, so it’ll be good to play some good competition down there,” sophomore center Audi Crooks said. “Definitely gives us a boost of confidence because I feel like the last few games we had a really good product out there on the floor.”
Should the Cyclones win their first game against either Arizona State or Cincinnati, they would have to take on No. 17 Baylor, who Iowa State lost to 67-52 in late February. The 15-point loss was the biggest loss Iowa State endured during Big 12 play.
“Usually what happens in these tournaments is, if you’re able to get to the quarterfinals, they’re all NCAA Tournament type games,” Fennelly said. “My guess is all eight teams have a chance to be in it.”
Iowa State starts the tournament on Thursday and will need Crooks, Brown and Ryan to step up big to make another run, just like they did a year ago when they made it to the Big 12 Championship finals.
