Texas Rallies Late, and Tops ISU

Iowa State played a great 36 minutes. The last 4 were very meh. Whether it was tired legs or poor execution down the stretch, the Cyclones came up short.

Tre Jackson was put in the starting lineup over Prentiss Nixon who only played a handful minutes of all game. Rasir Bolton and Michael Jacobsen struggled mightily in the first half. Bolton had one point in the first half, and Jacobsen started 0-6 from the field.

Tyrese Halliburton was consistent as always, doing a little bit of everything for the Cyclones. Solomon Young continued to play good off the bench, and Zion Griffen found a lot of minutes. The Cyclones were down double digits at times in the first half before coming back to lead at half time.

The Cyclones came out with Solomon Young starting in place of George Conditt, who only played about six minutes today. This leads into an interesting subplot of the game, the bench play, or lack there of.

Caleb Grill and Terrence Lewis didn’t see the floor. Conditt didn’t return after starting the first five minutes. Nixon only played 11 seconds in the second half after Tre Jackson fouled out.

The Cyclones have about a 9 man rotation, but stuck to only 6 in the second half with Zion Griffin being the only reserve. This may have been one of the issues late in the game. The defense and hustle plays went away in the last five minutes. The shots stopped falling.

Rasir Bolton missed a layup, and two tips in a row with about a minute left. From there it would be all Texas. Iowa State led 65-62 with about a minute left, and found themselves down 65-72 until Solomon Young hit a worth nothing three as time expired to get it to 68 for the Cyclones.

It was a disappointing finish, in a disappointing season. It’ll be worth keeping any eye on the bench rotations next game to see if Prohm will commit to a 6-7 man rotation instead of his usual 9.

Iowa State’s next game is Wednesday in Morgantown, as the Cyclones will face the #12 Mountaineers.