, who closed the game on a 10-2 run for their first road win of the year. Iowa State (12-4, 2-2) didn't score over the final 2:42.''Biggest thing, it's a tough loss,'' Cyclones coach Steve Prohm said. ''Brutal loss.'' Iowa State, which hasn't won since blowing out Kansas last week, was up seven with five minutes left. Brown hit two free throws with 16 seconds left to make it 57-56 Iowa State, and Lindell Wigginton missed the front end of a subsequent one-and-one for the Cyclones.Brown, who finished 9 of 20 from the floor, then drove through the paint for the winner - which came on the heels of a 21-point comeback against West Virginia in K-State's last game.Brown scored eight of K-State's final 10 points after hitting a late layup to help beat the Mountaineers.''I just tried to make the plays when opportunity presents itself,'' Brown said. ''My teammates and coach believe in me when it comes down to the wire. They believed in me to come down and make a play.'' Nick Weiler-Babb had 11 points and five assists to lead the Cyclones. Iowa State responded to its 77-60 win over the Jayhawks with a 73-70 loss at Baylor and a sloppy finish against the Wildcats.''I think everybody jumped and ran with one game. Now your character is tested, and you've got to go back to work,'' Prohm said.Big 12 preseason player of the year Dean Wade, who had been out since the middle of December with a torn tendon in his right foot, returned for the Wildcats. He had two points and nine rebounds in 22 minutes.''He still has no rhythm and no conditioning, but he gets nine rebounds and got a big bucket late,'' Kansas State coach Bruce Weber said. ''It's not like riding a bike where you can just jump on and ride it.'' THE BIG PICTUREIowa State: While K-State got Wade back, the Cyclones played with big man Cam Lard - who missed Saturday's game with a sprained ankle. Iowa State also said after the game that fellow big man Solomon Young will miss the remainder of 2018-19 with a groin injury, and the Cyclones will seek a medical redshirt.Kansas State: Getting Wade back is huge as far as K-State's NCAA Tournament hopes are concerned, as was this win over the Cyclones. The Wildcats might be a factor in the Big 12 race after all.NOT-SO CRITICAL STRETCHIowa State fell behind 37-26 to open the second half, but a late 14-2 run gave the Cyclones what looked like enough of a cushion to survive. Wigginton gave the Cyclones a 48-46 lead on a layup in the paint, and Weiler-Babb followed with a 3. Marial Shayok then hit a layup to cap a stretch of nine straight points for Iowa State and make it a 55-48 game. But Weiler-Babb missed a wide-open 3 with about 40 seconds left.THE NUMBERSIowa State lost despite holding the Wildcats to 35.7 percent shooting from the floor. ... Kamau Stokes had 12 points for Kansas State. ... Shayok had a season-low nine points for the Cyclones. He entered play averaging 20.1 points per game. ... K-State outrebounded Iowa State 39-31. ... The Cyclones went just 6 of 12 from the line.POLL IMPLICATIONSIowa State is one of the 25 most talented teams in the country. But the Cyclones likely won't be ranked as such on Monday.UP NEXTIowa State plays No. 8 Texas Tech in a huge early league showdown on Wednesday.Kansas State plays at Oklahoma on Wednesday.---More college basketball: https://apnews.com/Collegebasketball and https://twitter.com/-Top25)
Jan 11, 2019Defense has been the calling card for Kansas State, but it will be another game or two before the man at the center of it all is back to make the Wildcats whole.Dean Wade went through mild practice Thursday but is not ready to return when Kansas State visits No. 20 Iowa State on Saturday in Ames.Without Wade, the Wildcats are 4-2. With him, they expect to be Big 12 contenders.A proving ground of sorts is ahead Saturday against the Cyclones, who bring a frenzied pace and high-scoring offense putting up 81.8 points per game during a 12-3 start.Iowa State is looking for more from freshman Talen Horton-Tucker, who was quiet against Baylor this week but had a five-minute stretch that displayed his scoring potential."The thing about Talen is he can really impact our game and not score," Iowa State coach Steve Prohm said. "Just because he's such a facilitator. He's at the top (of the key), the ball is in his hands a lot. We just need to get him to move it quicker and be more efficient with it." Another underclassman, sophomore Cameron Lard, hasn't regained his freshman form due to an ankle injury. Prohm said Thursday Lard might be prescribed some rest, even though X-rays were clear.Iowa State ran more tests to "double-check some things so we can get confirmation in whether it's going to be a week thing, or it could be longer. Optimistic it's going to be a couple of days or a day-to-day injury. But we need to get some finality with it." Horton-Tucker has only eight field goals in Iowa State's past four games. Prohm has plenty of other options, and the advantage of a system that spreads the wealth while operating at a breakneck pace.Even at their frenetic pace the Cyclones take care of the ball -- 10.7 turnovers per game -- and shoot nearly 50 percent from the floor. Almost one third (32 percent) of Iowa State's points so far this season are from 3-point shots.That shrinks the margin for error for the visitors, but the Wildcats are riding some momentum.Kansas State had only six turnovers -- and forced 17 -- to knock off West Virginia, 71-69, earlier this week and get to 11-4 on the season. K-State rallied from a 21-point deficit.But keeping pace with the Cyclones will be a significant challenge minus Wade, the team's only all-league pick last season and the team's second-leading scorer (13.6 points per game) in 2018-19.Weber expects Wade to be evaluated with a chance to return as soon as next week."He's done workouts, he's done running, he's done walking, he's done jumping in the water," Weber said of Wade's recovery from a torn ligament in his foot Dec. 15. "So now get him on the court and practice a little bit. I don't want to say yes or no, but we're moving forward, so hopefully, if there's no major setback, I would say in the next week or 10 days, we hope to have him back." --Field Level Media
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