AMES — Following the return of sophomore forward Milan Momcilovic, the now-No. 10 Cyclones returned to form in a 30-point thrashing against TCU at home Saturday.
Now, Iowa State takes a trip down south to Orlando, to take on UCF with hopes of starting a new winning streak Tuesday.
In the Cyclones’ win over the Horned Frogs, Iowa State was able to hold TCU to only 52 points, which set a conference high after giving up an average of 78 points during its three-game slide.
Along with the strong defensive game, the Cyclones scored 82 points. The last time Iowa State scored at least 80 was when the Knights came to Ames on Jan. 21.
A big reason behind Iowa State’s success against the Horned Frogs came from the return of Momcilovic, who had been out with a hand injury for nearly a month.
With his return to the starting lineup, the Cyclones were able to get back to their success before he got hurt, including having senior guard Curtis Jones come off the bench after being in the startling lineup in Momcilovic’s absence.
This also gave way for a shakeup in how certain players’ minutes were used, which included guard Demarion Watson, who only played the final three minutes in the TCU game after playing key minutes over the past month.
Assistant coach Erik Crawford believes that having Momcilovic back at full strength helps get back to that flow where players don’t need to play more minutes than they had been initially asked to do before the sophomore forward’s return.
“I think one of the biggest things that was hidden in that whole stretch was it was good early, but then the more games went on, the more our other guys had to play,” Crawford said. “I think when you take out a guy who was averaging 25 to maybe 30 minutes a game, it just puts a load on the rest of those guys.”
The restored lineup will look to carry over its success Tuesday, as they head to Orlando for a rematch with a team they had already bested but will look to best again in the UCF Knights.
Since UCF came to Ames, it has struggled to stay afloat in the conference, as the Knights have gone 1-4, with the only win coming the game after they played Iowa State, when they defeated TCU 85-58 at home.
Despite being ranked the worst defensively in the Big 12, the Knights are among the top half of the conference in offense, which was shown when they put up 83 points in Hilton Coliseum.
Crawford believes that UCF can still threaten the Cyclones despite putting up a season-high 108 points on this same team just three weeks ago.
“They’re a scary team,” Crawford said. “Just as easily as they can lose, they can win by 20. They have the ability to put up points probably as good as any team in our conference.”
The Knights are led by guard Keyshawn Hall, who has been on a tear by averaging 18.3 points and 6.9 rebounds per game, both good for second and 11th in the Big 12, respectively.
But since this is the time of year when teams are starting to play against each other twice, it’s integral for Iowa State to adjust its game plan in some sort of way so it doesn’t get beaten by a team that has already played them once that season.
“Early February is probably the toughest stretch for all teams because you’ve got multiple games where the scouting report’s out on you and everyone kind of does the same thing once you’re in conference,” Crawford said. “And if it’s working for that time, it’s hard to turn it around.”
The Cyclones take on the Knights at 6 p.m. Tuesday from Addition Financial Arena in Orlando. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+.
