KU Jayhawks, who visit ISU Saturday, have fared well in Hilton through the years
Bill Self’s Kansas Jayhawks men’s basketball teams are a stellar 14-6 at Iowa State’s Hilton Coliseum over the past two decades.
Suffice it to say, despite being eight games over .500 in the 14,267-seat building, KU coach Self takes nothing for granted as his squad annually tries to ward off “Hilton Magic.”
For instance, No. 23-ranked Iowa State (15-4, 4-2 Big 12), which plays host to No. 7 KU (16-3, 4-2) in a game that tips off at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, routed the Jayhawks 68-53 last season in Ames.
In other games played in Ames, KU fell to the Cyclones 77-60 on Jan. 5, 2019 and 85-72 on Jan, 25, 2016. Those were KU’s only double-digit losses at ISU in the 21-year Self era.
Overall, the Jayhawks are 28-23 all-time in Hilton.
“It is good,” Self said of the atmosphere inside the venue. “It is without question one of the better environments. It’s great. It’s full. It’s going to be turned up.”
Self noted that many arenas are rocking when the Jayhawks come to town.
“When we go to K-State it’s full and it’s turned up. When we go to Texas it’s full and it’s turned up,” Self said. “I mean, there’s a lot of places that are full and turned up. If I was going to rank the best basketball environments we play in, when you go to Ames you know it’s always going to be good, no question.”
Iowa State is 12-0 this season in the arena that opened in 1971. Kansas State was the Cyclones’ latest victim, falling 78-67 before a loud, sellout crowd on Wednesday in Ames.
“We coach a game and play a game that is a treat to do,” Self said. “It’s what we want to do more than anything else and we love playing in environments that make it more enjoyable and harder.
“That’s what guys do. (But) there’s a point in time … something happened several years ago with one of our players (becoming the verbal target of fans at an unnamed school) after a family member died. There’s things like that you say, ‘No. No.’
“There are a lot of things like that we think are really awful, then our fans do the same thing their fans do. Isn’t this all part of it? To be tested and how do you block out the noise? How do you continue to compete and be poised regardless of what’s going on?
“There’s been situations in my career that have impacted me, and I realize I’ve got to get some deaf ears, too. But from an environment standpoint the most hostile environments are also the best ones to play in.”
KU is 2-2 on the road this season, falling at UCF (65-60) and West Virginia (91-85) while winning at Indiana (75-71) and Oklahoma State (90-66).
“There are absolutely no days off,” Self said. “I think when you are playing quality competition every game you have to play a way, ‘Let’s do it right every time.’
“If we do it right every time there will be a lot more success than not being successful. You don’t base success on what your record is when you are playing in a league this good. You base your success on, ‘I’m going to do it the right way. We’ve got to make everybody earn it, period.’
“if we do those things, things will prevail over time. But still guys jump up and make guarded shots sometimes. That’s what makes our sport so great. In any sport, you can throw a perfect pitch and a guy can still hit it out. You play great defense, he still makes a guarded shot. You can do a lot of things, but I know if you don’t guard and you are banking on them just missing, it’s going to end up not very good over time.
“That’s my big deal: ‘How do we get a little bit better each and every day?’”
ISU is led by sophomore guard Tamin Lipsey, who tops the team with a 14.1-point scoring average. He also leads ISU with 101 assists and his 3.2 steals per game lead the conference (and rank second nationally). And he’s made 23 three-pointers this season.
Junior guard Keshon Gilbert averages 13.6 points per game. He has 82 assists and 33 steals and grabs 4.1 rebounds per game. Freshman forward Milan Momcilvic averages 13.3 points a game and has made 39 three-pointers.
This will be KU’s only game against the Cyclones this regular season. Normally the schools play a home-and-home each year, but the Big 12 has 14 teams this season, instead of 10, with each team playing 18 conference games.
“Going in their building, that should be all the motivation you need,” KU senior Parker Braun said. “Especially with a talented team like that, you know they are going to be competing for that top spot with us. Getting that game there is something could be critical down the road.
“When you have Kansas across your chest, you know it’s a big target. Everyone’s going to give it their best shot. You are going to get everyone’s best night. It will be everyone’s Super Bowl.”
