The Iowa State basketball team had yet another fantastic regular season under head coach T.J. Otzelberger. The Cyclones lost just once at home all year, and made it all the way to the semi-finals of the Big 12 conference tournament. As a result, Iowa State is a no. 2 seed this year at the NCAA tournament.
“Yeah, it's a credit certainly to our players, our coaches, the work they do every day, our fan base who shows up for us. I think it's just a winning combination,” Otzelberger said, per 247Sports.
While Iowa State is projected to go far in the NCAA tournament by many analysts, there is one flaw with this team. Here's a strong reason why Iowa State basketball is on upset alert in the days and weeks ahead.
Iowa State has struggled this year at the free-throw line
The Cyclones finished the season last in the Big 12 conference in team free-throw percentage, per league stats. That means the Cyclones were literally 16th out of 16 total teams. Iowa State shot barely above 67 percent from the charity stripe this year.
That statistic has really hurt the Cyclones in road games. In a loss at Cincinnati during the year, Iowa State missed 10 free throws. The team lost that contest to the Bearcats by nine points, 79-70.
The free throw problem rose its head again when Iowa State played in the Big 12 tournament. In a thrilling 82-80 loss to Arizona in the semis, the Cyclones went just 50 percent at the line. If Iowa State had made just three more free throws, it would have won the game.
If Iowa State is going to go far in the NCAA tournament this year, the team has to step up with its free throw shooting. Iowa State has lost only seven games this season. There would have been even fewer losses if the team was able to do just a bit better in that area.
Oztelberger says his guys will be ready to play in March Madness.
“And so for us, I think the lesson you learn is the physicality, you need to play with the urgency, you need to play with the competitive spirit, you need to play with, it needs to be ever-present, it needs to be constant, and it needs to show up for you at all times,” the coach said. “And when we've done that, we've put ourselves in a great position, and we've been successful. So I think that's something we learned, and it's something that we'll aim to do as we move forward.”
Iowa State, as a no. 2 seed, starts NCAA tournament play with a game against no. 15 seed Tennessee State. Tennessee State won the conference tournament in the Ohio Valley Conference.
The two schools meet in the round of 64 on Friday.
