West Virginia, Iowa State took wild ride to get to a last-place battle in the Big 12

MORGANTOWN — Iowa State travels to West Virginia at 7 p.m. Tuesday, with the stakes being the loser finds itself at the bottom of the Big 12 standings.

While WVU (13-9, 2-7 Big 12) wasn’t predicted to be in this situation, the Cyclones were, having received every last-place vote in the Big 12 coaches’ preseason poll.

Since then, a fascinating story has developed with both teams, filled with fast starts, raised expectations, critical injuries, and disappointing results.

WVU STATS

WVU’s biggest question is the status of guard Taz Sherman, who missed Saturday’s loss against Texas Tech while in concussion protocol.

Huggins said Monday that Sherman was still in protocol as late as Sunday and did not practice. It’s possible the senior could have practiced later Monday or could be involved in today’s walk-through prior to the game.

In the perplexing case of Iowa State (16-7, 3-7), it’s hard to fathom it possible that a team once ranked No. 8 in the country this season was picked to finish last in its own conference.

Equally as amazing is the fact Iowa State was still a Top 25 team a week ago, but now needs a win against the Mountaineers just to stay out of last place in the Big 12.

Or maybe that’s a comment on just how competitive the Big 12 is as a whole this season.

“We’re going to have to defend, because they’re good and they run good stuff,” Huggins said. “They execute very well. They have size and they can make shots.”

How the Cyclones got to this point began when T.J. Otzelberger was brought in this season to take over for Steve Prohm.

The Cyclones were 2-22 in Prohm’s final season.

Otzelberger, who was at UNLV for two seasons before joining up with Iowa State, took over a roster that saw just four of its 13 scholarship players return.

The Cyclones’ two top players transferred out — Rasir Bolton to Gonzaga and Jalen Coleman-Lands to Kansas — which led to the low expectations at the beginning of the season.

Otzelberger filled those holes through the transfer portal, where guards Izaiah Brockington was brought in from Penn State and Gabe Kalscheur was brought in from Minnesota.

“Brockington has had a heck of a year. He’s really played well,” Huggins said of the Iowa State guard who is fourth in the Big 12 in scoring at 16.9 points per game. “He’s really athletic. He’s big-time athletic, and since he’s been there, he’s shooting the ball so much better.”

Freshman Tyrese Hunter was a four-star freshman, who has shined in his first season in college, averaging 10.5 points.

And then there were the 12 consecutive wins by the Cyclones to start the season, including wins against Xavier, Memphis and Iowa.

That turned into wins against nationally ranked Texas Tech and Texas in Big 12 play, but also a disappointing loss at the buzzer on the road against Kansas and tough setbacks against TCU and Oklahoma that have brought the Cyclones back to an expected reality.

West Virginia got off to a similar start, getting off to a 13-2 run that included a win against nationally ranked Connecticut, but the Mountaineers enter this game on a seven-game losing streak.

Sherman’s injury and poor shooting were the latest culprits in WVU’s loss against the Red Raiders.
Rebounding and passing issues have also plagued the Mountaineers.

“It’s a lot of things,” Huggins said. “We were 1 for 11 (on layups against Texas Tech). You miss 10 shots from one-foot away, your field-goal percentage is not going to be very good. Some of that is we’re out-sized.”

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