When Will Iowa State Men’s and Women’s Basketball Catch a Break?

Wednesday night was the epitome of Iowa State Cyclone athletics on the big stage. We’ve been through more heartbreaks than the usual teenage boy discovering feelings toward someone else and getting shut down by the “just want to be friends” line. But last night could have been the sheer icing on the cake as both teams blew leads at the end of their games. At the same time.

Fred Hoiberg should expect more from his team than giving up 17 points in their third winnable Big 12 game on the road. Iowa State is 1-3 in Big 12 road games. Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-USA TODAY Sports

The Cyclone men are looking for consistency, grabbing that big win on the road. Sorry, but when your lone true road victories are UMKC and TCU, that’s worse than scoff-worthy. Stillwater provided that big test, a team that really needed to win as they themselves have struggled on the road. The Cowboys have won all their games at home in conference play but are 0-3 on the road.

As for the women, they’re looking to grab some wins as a lighter portion of the schedule is now ahead after the gauntlet that was both Oklahoma schools and Baylor twice in the first eight games of the conference season.

Instead of victories and both teams going into the weekend with confidence, both teams suffered unbelievable losses with big leads coughed up. The women were up by 18 points with less than nine minutes to go in the game against Kansas. The men had as much as an 11-point lead against Oklahoma State, while the Cowboys’ largest lead was two points – the 78-76 final score.

It’s almost what ISU fans expect. Everything is fought for, and as great as it is to have solid home court advantage and beat all these-top ranked teams in Hilton Coliseum, we need more. We need to become that nationally known team that does more than just create upsets.

Both teams have enough talent to go into any game expecting to win. It’s time to find that consistency down the Big 12 stretch and finally execute it.

Brian Spaen is the lead editor of Clones Confidential. Get more Cyclones coverage by following us on Twitter.