On Saturday afternoon in Ames, Iowa, two Big 12 teams clashed in an exciting matchup between AP Top 25 teams.
No. 3 Iowa State hosted No. 25 Baylor at Hilton Coliseum in an exciting matchup. The game went back and forth early in the contest before the Cyclones pulled away and eventually blew out the Baylor Bears. Led by big days from Keshon Gilbert, Milan Momcilovic, and Curtis Jones, the Cyclones advanced to earn their 26-straight home win in Ames.
With that said, here are three takeaways from the contest.
Statement Game
Iowa State is the best team in the Big 12 Conference, and they proved that on Saturday. While teams like Houston, Kansas, and Cincinnati all have strong arguments for the claim, the Iowa State Cyclones look different than any other team in the league.
They held No. 25 Baylor, one of the league’s top offenses to just 55 points, 20 points under their previous season low, on 19-64 shooting from the field, good for 29.7%. They also converted just seven of their 29 shots from three (24.1%). Meantime, Iowa State connected on 49% of shots from the field and 47.6% from three. Otzelberger’s squad also outrebounded the Bears 42-35 to seal the deal over a talented Top 25 team.
No Edge
While just about everyone wearing green struggled vs. Iowa State, one major difference in the game was the Cyclones limiting one of Baylor’s star players: Five-star freshman V.J. Edgecombe, who scored just four points in Ames. Edgecombe is currently fourth on the team in scoring, averaging 12.4 points per game.
In addition to Edgecombe, the Cyclones kept three of the top four Baylor scorers this season well below their season average. They held Rob Wright III, Norchad Omier, and V.J. Edgecombe to just 23 points between the three. Previously, the trio had been averaging 41 points per contest.
Otz’s Portal Vision
Late in the second half, CBS’ broadcast crew showed a graphic that displayed where each of Iowa State’s key portal additions played at prior to their time in Ames. The group included Keshon Gilbert (UNLV), Curtis Jones (Buffalo), Dishon Jackson (Charlotte), Nate Heise (Northern Iowa), Brandton Chatfield (Seattle), and Joshua Jefferson (Saint Mary’s).
While the transfer portal has exploded to a point where big-name high major players are on the move each season, T.J. Otzelberger has found a way to build an elite roster through Group of Five and smaller division schools.
T.J. Otzelberger has already cemented himself as one of the nation’s brightest basketball minds, but after his continued success in the transfer portal, Otz has earned the reputation of an elite talent evaluator as well. That sets up for a potentially huge season in Ames.
