T.J. Otzelberger's 'confident' take after Iowa State basketball's ugly loss to Kansas
Yesterday at 02:34 PM
The Iowa State basketball team has now lost three games in a row as they fell on the road against Kansas on Monday night. The Cyclones came into the game as slight underdogs, but the Jayhawks ended up easily winning the game. Iowa State was able to hang around in the early part of the first half, but Kansas was able to grow the lead to double digits in the first half, and they never looked back. The Jayhawks won 69-52.
Kansas won this one by 17 points, but they were up by 23 at one point in the game. It was an all-around ugly performance from the Iowa State basketball team, but head coach T.J. Otzelberger remains confident going forward.
“Our guys put the work in. We’re confident in the work that we put in and how that works itself out over time,” T.J. Otzelberger said after the game, according to an article from 247 Sports. “Tonight, that work didn’t show up for us as much as we’d have liked.”
Shooting woes have been an issue for Iowa State as they shot just 30% from the field on Monday. Otzelberger is confident that they will turn it around in practice, however.
“I’m confident in our guys and what we’re going to do in practice the rest of this week, and how we’re going to move forward together,” Otzelberger added.
If you’re an Iowa State basketball fan and you watched the game, you probably didn’t leave with any positive takeaways. Guard Curtis Jones still thinks that the Cyclones did a good job in some areas, though.
“It sucks for sure, losing is not ideal. But we did some things well tonight,” Curtis Jones said.
The shooting is an issue right now, and no one can argue that. However, stretches like this happen in basketball, and it’s better to happen now than in March. The team is confident that they will get their groove back.
“I believe we’ll make shots,” Jones added. “We work hard every day, and I still trust and believe in everybody, including myself.”
Iowa State is in the midst of a losing streak now, but the locker room is still in a good place. It’s a long season, and you can’t let one tough stretch ruin the entire year.
“I could sense in our locker room, our guys, they’re in a good place mentally,” Otzelberger said. “This isn’t a victim mentality or a ‘woe is me,’ we know that adversity is part of playing in this conference and the teams we play.”
After the loss, Iowa State falls to 17-5 overall on the season and they are now 7-4 in Big 12 play.
The Cyclones will look to end their losing streak on Saturday when they return home to play TCU. The Horned Frogs are currently 11-10 on the year, so they will be a good opportunity for Iowa State to get back in the win column.
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