Iowa State Men’s Basketball: Why The Cyclones Can’t Win On The Road
By Brian Spaen
No one specifically, really. What makes this loss so heartbreaking is that the Cyclones did 90 percent of everything right and still couldn’t get the win. Their turnovers were mostly fixed, three-point shots were going down despite missing 22 of them, and they certainly had enough offense.
Feb 9, 2013; Manhattan, KS, USA; Iowa State Cyclones head coach Fred Holberg looks at his bench during a 79-70 loss to the Kansas State Wildcats at Bramlage Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Scott Sewell-USA TODAY Sports
“It’s a tough position to be in,” Melvin Ejim said after the game. “Whenever you feel like you play well on the road and you take a team to two overtimes, or any overtime, and you feel like you had a chance to win it’s just a tough situation.”
Outside of the road loss to Kansas State, the Cyclones were in position to win all of them. They could be sitting at 10-1 in the conference, instead it’s 6-5 with a 16-8 record.
So what’s the problem with this team? Help defense and simply not being clutch on both sides of the ball in pressure situations away from Hilton Coliseum.
It was a key problem in the road game against Oklahoma State when the Cowboys would be their man and drive inside for an easy basket. It happened again frequently against Texas. The game could have been sealed if Javan Felix would have made his easy basket at the end of the first overtime.
“We just have to bounce back at home and find some wins on the road,” said Ejim.
That’s what has been said after every one of these devastating losses. Now when is this team going to actually execute and deliver what they say? It isn’t Hoiberg’s problem, he can’t make decisions late in games for them.
Iowa State is one of the best teams in the country for the first 39 minutes of nearly every game they’ve played. Now it’s time to take that next step further and complete 40 minutes on the road.
Brian Spaen is the lead editor of Clones Confidential. Get more Cyclones coverage by following us on Twitter and Facebook.