It’s normally not hard for at least one scorer to hit double figures in a game.
Five measly buckets in 40 minutes – one every 480 seconds – would do the trick. Four field goals would suffice if you can hit a couple of three-pointers. Add the option for free throws, and you’d think SOMEONE on Iowa State’s men’s basketball team could get out of single-digit land against Kansas University.
Think again.
The Cyclones’ 89-52 loss to the Jayhawks in Allen Fieldhouse was additionally humbling because their leading scorer was reserve Dodie Dunson.
He had three field goals and eight points.
Dunson now has a new claim to fame, though he might not notice the paparazzi stalking him anytime soon. No player in the Big 12 Conference has led his team in scoring with so few points this entire season.
Fitting, then, that when asked if anything positive could come out of Saturday’s beatdown, ISU coach Greg McDermott replied, “Not off the top of my head.”
“It was a mismatch today,” McDermott said. “Physically, mentally, from a hustle standpoint. We were defeated in every aspect of the game possible.”
McDermott is convinced that Kansas winning the coveted national championship wouldn’t be a shock. The way KU ran through the Big 12 North schedule with an unblemished 10-0 record, he surely isn’t alone in his thoughts.
The Jayhawks’ unbeaten North run had just two close calls, but the closest was an overtime winner on Jan. 13 – against Iowa State.
Which raises the question: How do two teams finish tied at regulation one game, then five weeks later are apart by 37 points?
“We were playing their style of basketball, which is up-tempoed,” said Dunson, ISU’s scoring machine. “And we should’ve been playing ours.”
That’s one way to put it. But ISU guard Mike Taylor, who nearly had more turnovers (six) than points (seven) Saturday, was able to sum it up in fewer words than that.
“They just basically,” Taylor said, “out-toughed us.”
It was a depressing day for the Cyclones, so much so that they didn’t even get heckled while walking off the court by the students seated next to the tunnel.
That’s not normal, but even KU’s students could see how deflated Iowa State (14-14 overall, 5-9 Big 12) felt coming off the beating. No need to pour it on.
Afterward, the coaches and players didn’t have much to add when speaking to reporters. The focus in the losing locker room turned to the winning locker room – where things, obviously, were a bit brighter.
“They’ve got virtually every piece of the puzzle,” McDermott said of Kansas, “and their starting point guard (Russell Robinson) didn’t play today. I felt he was the glue that held them together because he did so many things that didn’t show up on the stat sheet. But they were very effective and unselfish without him.”
