Iowa State steamrolled Arizona State by a Big 12 tournament-record 49 points on Wednesday.
Its reward? A date with well-rested Texas Tech.
The fifth-seeded Cyclones lost at home to the fourth-seeded Red Raiders on the final day of last month and now get another shot at Texas Tech in Thursday’s quarterfinals of the fearsome tourney in Kansas City.
There’s no easy path in the Big 12 tournament. The No. 7-ranked Cyclones (26-6) played Wednesday and the No. 16 Red Raiders (22-9) had the day off due to Texas Tech’s recent 82-73 victory at Iowa State.
“They have an unbelievable team this year and they continue to do great things,” Cyclones coach T.J. Otzelberger said of the Red Raiders. “So we know what a tough challenge it’s going to be, and we know what a great team that they are, so we’re going to do everything that we can to be at our absolute best.”
Iowa State certainly played at a high level in its 91-42 victory on Wednesday in what turned out to be Bobby Hurley’s final game as Sun Devils coach. The Cyclones also defeated Arizona State 86-65 in last Saturday’s regular-season finale to end a two-game slide.
Milan Momcilovic made four 3-pointers while scoring 21 points in Wednesday’s second-round rout and Joshua Jefferson added 20 points and 12 rebounds for the Cyclones. Blake Buchanan also excelled with 17 points.
“I think our guys came out with a great level of energy and intensity from the start,” Otzelberger said. “We knew it was going to be important to try to speed them up and score from our defense, and our guys did a great job there.
“We’re always at our best when we’re doing that.”
Meanwhile, Texas Tech is eager to get its own postseason started in the ultra-tough environment.
“This is the best time of the year, not even close, being in March playing postseason basketball is a blessing,” Red Raiders coach Grant McCasland said. “The Big 12 tournament in Kansas City is remarkable. It’s a great opportunity for our team to take advantage of. The opportunity to compete in what I think is the best college basketball tournament outside of the NCAA Tournament is something I’m really looking forward to.”
Texas Tech will be playing for the sixth time since losing star big man JT Toppin to an ACL injury against Arizona State on Feb. 17.
The Red Raiders are 3-2 without their star, including the takedown of the Cyclones when Donovan Atwell scored 18 points on six 3-pointers and Christian Anderson added 14 points and seven assists.
But since beating Iowa State, the Red Raiders lost 73-65 to visiting TCU and 82-76 at BYU to close the regular season. Yet McCasland said he’s not fretting over a possible third straight setback.
“I know people like to talk about streaks or whatever,” McCasland said. “I don’t really care about it honestly. As a coach, I look and see, ‘What do we need to improve on to give ourselves a chance to win the next game. Do we want to win? 100%.’ ”
Atwell has made a Texas Tech-record 121 3-pointers this season while Anderson (103) also passed the previous school mark.
Momcilovic has set a new Iowa State mark with 118 treys. He is second in the Big 12 in made 3-pointers per game this season behind Atwell.
–Field Level Media
