6. Iowa State (24-5)
When on their game, especially during a 16-0 start to the season, Iowa State has shown that they’re an absolute force. What’s troubled them this season has been some rough showings on the road. While the Cyclones have some awesome wins over Houston and Kansas in February, it’s impossible to ignore the way they played in losses at BYU and TCU.
Thankfully, those road struggles weren’t a factor on Tuesday night, with Iowa State getting a key 75-59 win at Utah. The Cyclones easily handled one of the league’s worst teams while getting 21 points and 6 rebounds from Joshua Jefferson. However, things went very sideways on Saturday as the Cyclones lost at home for the first time this season, falling 82-73 to a short-handed Texas Tech team. Jefferson had 22 points and Milan Momcilovic added 20 points, but Iowa State was in a massive hole at halftime and couldn’t dig out of it.
How does this performance affect Iowa State’s quest for one of those 1-seed’s during March Madness? The bigger question here after losing at home for the first time is how the Cyclones move forward after these recent issues. Iowa State has the talent to win important games in March but this team isn’t trending in the best direction. Monday’s road test at Arizona likely won’t help matters and is probably their toughest game of the entire regular season.