Iowa State men's basketball falls apart in second half in loss at Oklahoma

NORMAN, Okla. – For a while, all signs pointed toward Iowa State ending a long Big 12 Conference road losing streak. The 11th-ranked Cyclones led by four at the half against Oklahoma, and by 11 shortly after the break.

T.J. Otzelberger’s team was rolling ... until what went right during the first half suddenly changed during the 79-66 loss at Oklahoma Saturday.

Iowa State has now lost 22 consecutive Big 12 games on the road since winning at Kansas State 78-64 on Feb. 16, 2019.

Oklahoma did a good second-half defensive job against Izaiah Brockington, who was on auto-pilot with 16 points in the first 20 minutes. He finished with just four more points. The Sooners played lights-out during the final 20 minutes, including shooting 81.8%, and now comes Kansas.

That’s right: The Cyclones play at Allen Fieldhouse on Tuesday against a Jayhawks outfit that lost Saturday against Texas Tech.

And oh by the way . . .

Iowa State didn’t shoot a free throw until just more than a minute remained. I’ll repeat: The Cyclones were 0-for-0 from the line for the game’s first 39 or so minutes.

Incredible?

So uncommon that it was Iowa State’s fewest free throws made and attempted since going 0-0 at Kansas State on Feb. 25, 1981.

Iowa State was called for a technical foul after being whistled for its second "flop." The free throw tied the game at 59, and after that, it was all Oklahoma.

Iowa State’s records fell to 13-2 overall and 1-2 in the Big 12, while Oklahoma improved to 12-3 and 2-1. Tyrese Hunter also scored a career-best 20 points and had four assists.

Iowa State columnist Randy Peterson embarked on his 50th year of writing sports for the Des Moines Register in December 2021 . Reach him at rpeterson@dmreg.com, 515-284-8132, and on Twitter at @RandyPete.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa State Cyclones lose 22nd Big 12 game in a row against Oklahoma