Let's Talk TCU

A month from now it will be completely feasible to look back on Tuesday night's victory over Texas and see it as the point in time when the Cyclones finally got "it" and hit the level everyone was expecting when they started the season 14-0.  Iowa State looked downright dominant for stretches, and aside from one poor four minute stretch, outclassed the Longhorns on both ends of the floor.

However, if the Texas game is truly when the team figured things out then a let down in Forth Worth on Saturday absolutely cannot happen.

Looking Back

Iowa State closed out the game against Texas on a 25-12 run and had the Big Three all score over 20 points in a revenge game against the Longhorns.  The Cyclones shot 49% from the field, including 8-24 from behind the arc, and held the Texas trio of Ridley, Ibeh, and Lammert to just 14 points on 4-11 shooting.  This wasn't Iowa State's best defensive performance of the season but it might have been their best in the past month.  Aside from Javan Felix finding his stroke behind the arc, the Cyclones had an answer for Texas each step of the way.

TCU once again went on the road and played a solid team close, losing 65-53 to Kansas State on Wednesday night.  Just like in Hilton, Kyan Anderson led the way with 23 points.

Looking at TCU

There's not much I can provide that Cylentbutdeadly didn't already state in his preview from two weeks ago.  As a matter of fact I'm not going to stretch things out either except for saying that TCU is probably going to go with a zone again and make some adjustments to keep Melvin Ejim from going nuclear and scoring 48 points again, and if the Cyclones show up and take the game seriously they'll win by double digits again.

TCU isn't an easy out at home and Iowa State nearly lost in Fort Worth a year ago.  However, time and time again this team finds a way to win when things aren't going right.  However, here's hoping that things are hardly in doubt.

Ejim!

I'll just go ahead and leave this here.

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Melvin Ejim Scores Big 12 Record 48 Points vs. TCU (All 20 Field Goals) (via Cyclones.tv)

Prediction

KenPom has this as a 78-67 win for Iowa State, and it's hard to be too different from that.  This should be double digits, but not an easy 20 point victory like some might expect.

Final Score

Iowa State 77

TCU 62