Hilton crowd fueled ISU’s upset win
Comments (...)AMES (MCT) — This was the old crowd noise from the best old days of Iowa State basketball.
This was the roar from an AC/DC concert during the first lap of the Daytona 500, with the Blue Angels flying overhead.
This was the old, ear-pounding, skull-shaking Hilton Coliseum wall of sound unleashed on marquee visiting teams of the past, so many of them named “Kansas.” This was time-travel back to the days of Jeff Grayer and Jeff Hornacek.
Back to the days of Marcus Fizer and Jamaal Tinsley.
Back to the days of a Cyclone guard named … Fred Hoiberg.
“This was a huge win for our program,” ISU coach Hoiberg said after his team’s 72-64 triumph over No. 5 Kansas before a sellout crowd of 14,376 that didn’t come to sit on their hands. “The sellout crowd was as loud as I’ve heard in a while.”
Like when Hoiberg was a senior helping the Cyclones to 23 wins in 1994-1995 with 7-footer Loren Meyer.
“I just looked at my phone for a brief second,” Hoiberg said in his postgame press conference. “Kris Olson, who was our manager, said the last time he heard it like that, Loren Meyer was jumping up and down on the rim, hanging on the rim, sitting on it.
“That’s for people who go back that far.”
Yep, this game was a flashback for veteran-viewers of ISU hoops as well as Saturday’s Cyclone Alley. Not only was the sound back Saturday, but so was the fury. From Iowa State’s players and fans.
Call it a corner-turner if you want, though that may be premature. Term it a win that gives Iowa State a big shove toward its first NCAA tournament since 2005 if you must. It might be, though a lot of season remains.
But what can’t be argued is it was a big victory over a big-time program, the signature win Iowa State had been without this season until now.
The Cyclones held a 10-point lead with 18 minutes left in their game at Kansas two weeks earlier, but the Jayhawks emerged 82-73 winners. This time, Kansas rattled off 11 straight points for a 45-39 lead three minutes into the second half. This time, ISU didn’t flinch.
“I just thought they outmanned us,” said Bill Self, the coach of a KU program that has won seven straight Big 12 titles and is atop the league at 7-1.
“I just thought they were more active and tougher than we were.”
The moment the game turned for good was when Cyclone guard Tyrus McGee cut from the left side of the paint to the right with the ball, got bumped, and threw in a floater. McGee was playing junior college ball a year ago. In Kansas.
He finished the 3-point play with a free throw to give ISU a 56-53 lead with 6:06 left, and his team tenaciously stayed in front the rest of the way.
It had been suggested by some basketball chroniclers that 6-foot-10 Kansas forward Thomas Robinson is the Big 12’s real MVP. He may be. He has been terrific this season. But he was a distinct runner-up to ISU’s Royce White Saturday.
The 6-8 White did what the best players do, which was take over a close game down the stretch. He had a baseline drive for a reverse lay-in that left Robinson and 7-footer Jeff Withey flat-footed. He totally broke down Withey for a basket a little over a minute later.
Then, with ISU up 62-59, Robinson fouled White with 1:47 left. Free throws have been to White what Kansas had been to the rest of the conference: Toxic.
White came into this game fresh off a 1-for-7 foul-shooting game at Texas Tuesday that left him 19-for-49 from the line in league games. His form was so lousy that ESPN put it in its “Not the Top Ten” list.
White missed his three first-half freebies against the Jayhawks. But he was an asset at the line after halftime, going 6-of-8. His two swishes gave the Clones a 64-59 edge and was indisputable proof this was an Iowa State day.
“Those were as big of free throws as we’ve had all year,” said Hoiberg.
It was a nightmare-not-come-true for White, who said he woke up Saturday dreaming he was missing foul shots. But the nightmare belonged to Kansas, and White caused it with far more than free throws.
It wasn’t just White who gave ISU a 36-23 rebounding advantage, or who forced Robinson into three traveling violations in the lane. For most of the game, Iowa State played inspired defense against a team that had averaged 15 more points than its league foes.
Hoiberg told his team and then told the media that this win means nothing if the Cyclones turn around and lose here to Kansas State on Tuesday. True enough. But this effort earned the team some time on Saturday’s SportsCenter, and not for ugly free throws.
“Hilton Magic was definitely in full effect,” Hoiberg said. And if anyone would know that …
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