Peterson: No. 25 Iowa State men's basketball escapes with first win at Oklahoma since 2019
NORMAN, Oklahoma – Iowa State played so well in the early going of Wednesday night’s 63-60 victory against Oklahoma, it seemed just a matter of time before T.J. Otzelberger’s team would be putting the Sooners away.
The 25th-ranked Cyclone men's basketball team led 25-7, and the game was very much in their control inside a sparsely populated Lloyd Noble Center.
Adversity set in. Nothing went right, and just like that, Oklahoma ran off 20 points in a row. The 18-point lead was history ... but in the end, the Cyclones prevailed for their first win at Oklahoma since 2019 and moved to 2-0 in the Big 12.
Neither team generated point-producing momentum during a second half that was close throughout.
Gabe Kalscheur’s two free throws gave Iowa State a 54-51 lead with 3:02 left. Osun Osunniyi grabbed a missed Oklahoma shot. Freshman point guard Tamin Lipsey scored on a drive, but the Sooners countered with a three-pointer. With 1:48 left, Iowa State had just a two-point lead.
The teams traded turnovers. Oklahoma scored just before the shot clock expired and it was a 56-all score with 1:03 remaining.
Caleb Grill’s three-pointer gave Iowa State a 61-58 lead with 22 seconds left. The Sooners scored a follow-up basket with 8 seconds to play, then called a timeout.
Grill inbounded the ball against Oklahoma’s frantic press, but Lipsey was pulled down en route to the pass. No foul was called despite replays suggesting otherwise. The ball went out of bounds, and it was the Sooners’ ball in their end of the court with 7.5 seconds to play.
Oklahoma returned the favor by throwing the inbounds pass out of bounds, which gave Iowa State possession with 6.5 seconds left.
This time, Grill inbounded to Osunniyi, who was fouled immediately with 5.4 seconds remaining. He made both shots of a 1-and-1 and Iowa State led 63-60.
Oklahoma missed a well-guarded desperation three-point shot at the horn.
The Cyclones are 2-0 in the Big 12 and 11-2 overall.
Remember, though, Iowa State once led 25-7. The middle was open for points. Grill was knocking down three-pointers. The offense flowed as well as it’s flowed in a long time. Oklahoma couldn’t figure out the Cyclones’ defense. Otzelberger’s guys were in cruise control.
That was early. That was before the Sooners plugged the middle and before they became more aggressive defending the shooters.
Oklahoma had an impressive 20-0 run of points during a 9-minute stretch in which Iowa State could do nothing right. The Cyclones didn’t play defense. They missed seven shots in a row and committed five turnovers.
Suddenly, it was 29-all at the break, after Iowa State missed 10 of its last 11 shots of the half. But the Cyclones had enough at the end of the game to leave Norman with a big W.
Iowa State columnist Randy Peterson is in his 51st year writing sports for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at rpeterson@dmreg.com, and on Twitter @RandyPete
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa State men's basketball gets a Big 12 road win at Oklahoma
