Hilton Coliseum
Ames, Iowa
Time: Saturday, 12:00 p.m. MST
TV: Cyclones.tv
What To Watch For:
Handling The Pressure. Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg has staged a swift revolution in Ames, turning the once-moribund Cyclones into a tournament team in just two years. One of the keys? Hoiberg's squad loves to pressure their opponents in an effort to create turnovers and score in transition. BYU obviously loves to play at fast pace as well, so they should be well-equipped for an free-flowing offensive contest. However, the Cougar guards have shown a weakness handling ball pressure while initiating the offense, which is a cause for concern. Iowa State will attempt to live inside Craig Cusick and Matt Carlino's jerseys all night long, and the pair will have to respond better than they did against Florida State. But it doesn't end there. Once the point guards break the press, BYU's other perimeter players will also need to be strong with the basketball. Tyler Haws has particularly struggled with this as of late, so his improvement will be important against an aggressive Cyclone defense.
Defending The Perimeter. I know this is starting to sound like a broken record, but it continues to be important. Iowa State loves to shoot the three — even more than BYU does, which is pretty hard to do. The Cyclones attempt 26.9 long balls per game on average, which is an insane amount. They haven't really found a groove from out there yet, converting on only 35.2 percent of them thus far, but that can change in an instant. Fred Hoiberg has a very specific system — create turnovers, run in transition, hit open guys for threes — and he has now had enough time to recruit players that fit in it. These are Division I basketball players. They will make open shots. All of this puts the Cougars in a familiar place: They must stop Iowa State's more athletic guards from getting into the paint (whether in the half-court or in transition) and creating open looks for perimeter shooters. It's that simple. If they do that well, like they did against Montana, they will be able to run the other way off turnovers and missed shots and get good looks for their own scorers in transition. And if they don't, we could see yet another barrage of threes from a BYU opponent.
Winning On The Road. The last time BYU played outside the state of Utah, it was kind of a disaster. In fact, it was really more of a dumpster fire than anything else. Maybe it was just the grandness of the venue, but the Cougars looked scared and tentative in Brooklyn and they got their butts kicks as a result. That can't happen again if they want to win today in Ames. Thankfully, it should be a little bit more familiar situation. The Hilton Coliseum is not the Barclay's Center in size or scope, and there should actually be a normal crowd there rather than the eery silence of a 80 percent-empty mega-arena. However, this will still be a stiff challenge. The Cyclones are no joke, and winning on the road against good teams is never easy. Haws and Brandon Davies will have to bring their best stuff early to help ease their teammates into the environment, and then the rest of the Cougars just need to go out there and play.
There is no way around it. This is a huge game for BYU. With the non-conference schedule beginning to dwindle, there are only so many opportunities left for this team to pick up marquee wins over quality opponents for their March resume. After blowing it in Brooklyn, the Cougars need this win. Iowa State is a quality team, but a beatable one. This is exactly the type of team BYU has to show they can beat if they want to have any shot at an at-large tournament bid. The fact that it's on the road makes the urgency even greater. They can do this, but they will have to play a very good game — something of which they are entirely capable. It will just be a matter of which team shows up in Iowa.
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