Iowa State basketball: No excuses — the roster is whole again

Let’s look at Tuesday’s Iowa State-TCU men’s basketball game like this. If the Cyclones are to get off the Big 12 Conference schneid before next season, it’s got a 30 percent chance of happening in the 8 p.m. game in Fort Worth. According to the ESPN calculations , it’s the best opportunity in the next seven scheduled games to win.
Also look at it like this: Now that Steve Prohm’s team is back to full strength, that means Solomon Young, Tre Jackson, Jalen Coleman-Lands and Javan Johnson should be as good as they can be. That means, barring anything else unforeseen, the Cyclones should be well-positioned to start getting conference victories. It means going 3-7 should be the bare minimum over the next 10 games.
They had a serious opportunity to upset Oklahoma in Johnson’s first game back with the team last Saturday, until faltering down the stretch, so they’re close. Another indicator that Prohm’s team might be on the verge of winning a few games, is that it’s made 25 of its last 52 three-point shots the past two games.
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They were losses, but when you’re 0-8 in the Big 12, you’ll take every sign of improvement that you can get.
That’s where Iowa State is, with 10 regular-season games left. The process of connecting seven new players with veterans should be complete. Everyone knows their strengths and they know what they can’t do. Rasir Bolton has settled into becoming the team leader. Tyler Harris has made 7 of his last 11 three-point shots.
“For my team to win and have a shot, I need to shoot the ball well,” Harris said. “Right now, my shot is really good. I’ve been knocking them down.”
Playing the next seven games over just a 15-day period is tough, though, but everyone in the Big 12 has stretches like this.
“AAU was like that,” Jackson said. “In pick-up basketball, too, you played back-to-back games. It’s just about being ready to play all the time.”
And now, it’s a product of rescheduling games that were postponed because of COVID-19 protocols.
“I’m not caught up in the standpoint of we’ve got to win so many games, or we’ve got to break a losing streak,” Prohm said. “I’m caught up on, ‘How do we continue to grow this team and get these young guys better?”
He’s been searching all season for good pace, ball-movement and offensive execution, while on the other end, playing with superior energy and toughness. Lately, he’s found it in doses.
“When you bottle up those last 80 minutes (against West Virginia and Oklahoma), during 60-to-65 of those minutes, we probably did a lot of that stuff,” Prohm said, then he added: “At the end of the day, we’re evaluated by wins and losses. I get that.”
At the end of the day — or season, in this respect — fans will have the final record on their minds. At the end of the season, fans aren’t likely to care how well the Cyclones played during stretches of games in which outcomes were in doubt midway through second halves.
That’s the bottom line, which is why winning at TCU is so important Tuesday. It’s why the same can be said for when the Horned Frogs play at Hilton Coliseum on Feb. 27. Coach Jamie Dixon’s team is 10-7 and 3-5 in the conference. It lost five consecutive games, before beating Oklahoma State, the last time out on Feb. 3.
Play like they did in the previous two games, and the Cyclones have a great chance returning back home with Big 12 win No. 1. Play that way when TCU makes the return visit, and also against Kansas State on a date still to be determined, and that’s a couple more potential Big 12 wins.
And with a full roster, it’s possible, but back to the current grinder of a schedule. After TCU, it’s at Kansas on Thursday and then back home against the Jayhawks on Saturday.
Don’t be misled into believing that Bill Self’s team isn’t any good, just because it dropped from the ratings for the first time in 25 years. If anything, it’s motivation for the Jayhawks to finish the season on a high note. Iowa State’s rallying around having a full roster, and Tuesday night being the best chance to end the losing streak that started way back in December against also-struggling Kansas State.
“It’s great that we have everybody back,” Jackson said. “If we were healthy the whole season, maybe it would have been different. We’re coming together. We just have to turn it into a win now.”
Iowa State columnist Randy Peterson has been writing for the Des Moines Register for parts of six decades. Reach him at [email protected] , 515-284-8132, and on Twitter at @RandyPete .