Tough Cyclones Fall Short Against Baylor, 77-72.

The #8 Cyclones faced their best opponent of the season so far when the #1 Baylor Bears came to town. The first half was the Izaiah Brockington show, as he put up twelve points and five rebounds while helping Iowa State grind out a number of tough defensive possessions.

However, as has been the case for most of the season, shot-making continued to be a bugaboo for the Cyclones with most of their scoring coming in the paint or at the free throw line, sans a Caleb Grill three late in the first half. The good guys finished shooting just 1-of-8 from three and 46% from the floor overall in the first half.

However, outside of a few misses in the paint, Baylor was knocking down jump shots almost automatically, even in the face of good pressure from the Iowa State defense.

The second half turned out to be more of the same. Iowa State would make a run to cut the lead to five or six, then a silly turnover and a couple Baylor buckets would stretch it back to double digits. Leading the second half effort was Tristan Enaruna, who put up 23 points without committing a single foul and grabbed a few key boards.

In the end though, ice cold shooting from behind the arc ultimately doomed the Cyclones, as they finished 1-of-14 from behind the arc, in contrast to Baylor’s 7-of-17 clip.

All in all, Iowa State proved that this team is for real. On to the next.