We have seen this game before. Opposing team goes up by 10-12 points, Cyclones spend the rest of the half getting back into the game, opposing team pulls away at the end. Iowa State played hard again, but could not make enough plays in the game to ever take the lead...again.
Even with the loss, there are some positives I saw from this game:
The team has not given up. Going 1-10, for a lot of teams, the players would have given up by now. We know the team isn't great, but I don't get this feeling that everything is a mess in a way I felt about the program each of the previous few years, but especially last year. It is a nice change of pace.
Next, the team is fun to watch. I know losing is never fun, but look at how many games they are in, and how out-manned they are. These games are close because they are making it happen.
Ejim continues to rebound like a beast. He has gotten 15 offensive rebounds the last 3 games. He had 14 the 5 games before that. He is improving, and I cannot wait to see how he improves in a Cyclone uniform over the years.
Lastly, the fans still support this team. There were 12,600 fans there to see a 1-10 team play. There are some winning programs right now that would love to draw 12,000 fans. I hope the fans stay patient, because things are going to get better and it is going to be a blast. Seeing this team play is worth the money and couple of hours of time in my opinion.
Marcus Denmon really was the big for the Tigers. He scored 9 points more than his season average, hit 2 big threes at times when Iowa State was getting momentum, and he along with English and all of their other guards made things tough on DG and Christopherson who did not have big scoring days today.
But even despite Denmon playing well, I chalk the loss up to the execution on the offensive end. On one hand, shooting 45% isn't horrible, but on the other hand, there were several missed shots that were layups around the basket. Iowa State took 11 more shots than Missouri today, and only have 3 more overall. If a couple of those layups go in, or a couple more 3s were made (Iowa State went 6 of 22 from 3), it's a different game.
Up next, the Cyclones head to Austin on Tuesday to play Texas. What stinks is Texas lost to Nebraska. I was hoping our game would be their let-down game in conference, but we will see what happens.
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