Can No. 20 Cougars pull off another epic road upset at No. 6 Iowa State on Wednesday?
Senior Night did not go well for Iowa State last year, as West Virginia marched into Hilton Coliseum and hung a 72-69 loss on the Cyclones.
Will history repeat itself Wednesday, when surging BYU rolls into Ames looking for another epic upset on the road? Or will Iowa State finish its 2023-24 home slate undefeated and exact revenge for that 87-72 shellacking BYU doled out in Provo on Jan. 16?
“I am excited for the guys to go experience it. Everywhere we go is so good, isn’t it? Like, every single gym. We were just at Kansas, which was amazing. And we are rolling right back out to it. Instead of blue and red it is crimson and gold.”
BYU coach Mark Pope
Tipoff is at 7 p.m. MST and the eighth meeting between the No. 20 Cougars (9-7, 21-8) and No. 6 Cyclones (12-4, 23-6) will be televised nationally by ESPN2. Iowa State is 17-0 at home and owns the nation’s sixth-longest home winning streak, while BYU is 3-6 in road games, the only breakthroughs coming at UCF, West Virginia and, of course, at then-No. 7 Kansas last week.
It will be another monumental task for the Cougars, who are playing their best basketball of the season — save Saturday’s first half against TCU — and have moved into a tie for fourth-place in the Big 12 standings. Iowa State sits in second place, a game behind league-leading Houston. The Cyclones have won three straight since losing 73-65 at Houston on Feb. 19.
After the Cougars rallied in the second half to beat TCU 87-75 Saturday, coach Mark Pope said Iowa State is an “incredible team that plays in an incredible venue.” Hilton Coliseum opened in 1971 — the same year the Marriott Center opened in Provo — and seats 14,267.
Iowa State’s arena is named after former ISU president James H. Hilton, and not a hotel chain, like BYU’s arena is.
And it is far from accommodating to visitors, as the Cougars learned the last time they visited, absorbing an 83-62 loss on Dec. 1, 2012.
“I am excited for the guys to go experience it. Everywhere we go is so good, isn’t it? Like, every single gym,” Pope said. “We were just at Kansas, which was amazing. And we are rolling right back out to it. Instead of blue and red it is crimson and gold.
“I’ve been there a couple times. They are an incredible team. They have great leadership,” Pope continued. “They are really athletic. Really skilled. They play incredible basketball everywhere, but especially at home. So it is going to be a massive challenge for our guys.”
Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger returned the praise Monday, calling BYU “a really good team, certainly a unique team with the way they shoot the basketball, as many 3s as they take, and playing the five man (center) a lot on the perimeter.”
Otzelberger said BYU will be eager to record another huge road upset in its new league, the Big 12.
“So we expect them to be highly competitive. And we expect them to be hungry for a win. They have been playing great lately. Just got a win last week at Phog Allen, which is a hard place to play,” he said. “I am sure they will be coming in here with the mindset that they really want to get the W.”
Taking care of the basketball is also at the top of the Cougars’ priority list. Iowa State is second in the nation in turnovers forced per game (17.9) and sixth in scoring defense. Opponents average just 61.9 points per game against the Cyclones.
Offensively, Iowa State is led by 6-4 junior guard Keshon Gilbert, who averages 13.8 points per game.
Forwards Robert Jones and Hason Ward are among the seniors who will be honored before the game.
Ward, who is from St. Thomas, Barbados, and played his first three seasons of college ball at VCU, was assessed a Flagrant 2 foul and ejected from the game in Provo for elbowing BYU’s Richie Saunders in the head/neck area when both players were lined up for a free throw.
So Saunders, one of the heroes of Saturday’s win over TCU, will likely be the target of ISU’s fans ire on Wednesday, even though he says he did nothing before the blow to earn Ward’s wrath.
“It caught me totally off guard,” he said of the foul a few days later.
Ward left with seven points and six rebounds in 14 minutes, 32 seconds. Saunders finished with 12 points on 4-of-9 shooting and played 24 minutes.
“We didn’t have any words (before). That was what was kinda funny about it. It was all of a sudden. Like, just like that. Just the aggression of the game, that happens,” Saunders said, adding that he has no “ill will” toward Ward. “That one was a little interesting. We were all playing hard, and that is what happens when you are playing hard in basketball.”
