No. 10 Iowa State went on the road to Orlando and put together one of its best road performances of the season, defeating UCF 77-65.
Here are three takeaways from Tuesday night’s game.
Improved road performance
Despite Iowa State’s strong season, it has shown cracks on the road, with four out of its five losses having come away from the friendly confines of Hilton Coliseum.
When the Cyclones have won away from home, it hasn’t been easy. They have found themselves on the brink of defeat in multiple road games that they ended up pulling out at the end, including a come-from-behind victory over Iowa and an overtime win against Texas Tech.
Even Iowa State’s last road win prior to Tuesday night was a 15-point victory over Arizona State, which was much more difficult than the final score suggests, having trailed by seven at halftime.
However, Tuesday night’s game against UCF was different. While the first half was back and forth, as soon as the second half started, Iowa State was the team in control.
Iowa State got its lead up to nine points just five minutes into the second half and didn’t look back, never allowing UCF to get within seven points for the rest of the game.
This win was exactly what Iowa State needed to prove to itself that it could go on the road and take care of business, something that it will need to do more than a few times as the season continues to move forward.
Cyclones contain Knights offense
Coming into the game, the Knights ranked fifth in the Big 12 in scoring, averaging 79.6 points per game. On Tuesday night, the Cyclones did a good job of slowing down the Knights’ high-powered offense.
Iowa State held UCF to just 65 points on 41.5% shooting from the field, 23.1% from 3-point range and 50% from the free-throw line. 65 points was the second-lowest UCF had scored in Big 12 play and the third-lowest it had scored all season.
This was after Iowa State had allowed UCF to score 83 points and shoot 43% from 3-point range in the team’s first meeting, granted, Iowa State would go on to win that game by 25 points.
UCF’s leading scorer Keyshawn Hall kept his impressive season going, as he scored 22 points on 60% shooting from the field and from 3-point range, but the Knights struggled to find much support.
Only one other player on the Knights, freshman guard Mikey Williams, shot above 33% from the field (minimum of three shot attempts).
Defense has always been the focal point since Iowa State head coach T.J. Otzelberger took over in 2021, and at times this year, the defense has slipped below expectations.
If the Cyclones can string together more defensive performances like the one they had against UCF, they can expect to see better results.
Plenty of contributors
This game was unlike a lot of Iowa State games this season, as this was the first time that Iowa State’s leading scorer was held to 15 points or less in a victory this season. This was because of the Cyclones’ balanced offensive attack.
Senior guard Keshon Gilbert was the Cyclones’ leading scorer. Gilbert scored 15 points, after shooting 6-of-9 from the field and 1-of-2 from 3-point range.
Five other Cyclones scored eight points or more. Junior forward Joshua Jefferson was second on the team with 13 points, followed by junior guard Tamin Lipsey with 11 and senior guard Curtis Jones with 10 off the bench.
Senior forward Brandton Chatfield matched a season high with nine points after going 4-of-5 from the field, and senior guard Nate Heise scored eight points, his highest total since Dec. 15 against Omaha.
This is the second game in a row where the offensive production for Iowa State has been efficient and spread out, something it was lacking during its three-game losing streak.
