Iowa State Basketball: Cyclones gearing up for end of season

It’s time for the Iowa State basketball team to start making that end of season push towards March.

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The Cyclones have shown some recent strong play, especially on the road. In one week, ISU has defeated Oklahoma State in Stillwater and Texas in Austin, both by fairly decent margins, bringing them to 20 wins for the fourth straight season.

In those games, the team has taken care of the ball (only 8 turnovers each contest), rebounded the ball on defense, and shared the ball in classic Cyclone fashion.

There are only four games left on the regular season, with home games against Baylor and Oklahoma, and road contests against Kansas State and TCU. In Hilton, Iowa State will look to avenge frustrating losses, while on the road they will seek to win the season series against two more opponents to add to sweeps of Texas, West Virginia, and Oklahoma State.

I think the team is truly priming themselves for another run at the Big 12 tournament. Jameel McKay is crushing it as a starter, Bryce Dejean-Jones is thriving as the sixth-man, Matt Thomas is starting to regain that Iceman-like stroke from distance, and the team is having fun and flexing their muscles as the best possible time.

The Cyclones are almost assuredly a 3-seed at this point, with the victories over teams like WVU, who turned around to beat Kansas in Morgantown. There is a chance they can get a 2, or even a 1, depending on their finishes in the regular season and conference tournament.

I won’t speculate on their final placement, but it is possible for ISU to make a deep run in March no matter their seeding because of the way they play and how much experience they have as a unit.