KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The opportunity to play postseason basketball in March is a double-edged sword.
Memorable plays, clutch shots and big-time highlights are usually remembered and celebrated from the winners’ perspective, but the other end of the blade cuts deep for those on the losing end.
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The tension of the Iowa State-Arizona Big 12 Tournament semifinals could easily be sliced with a blade and after the adrenaline-filled final few minutes that saw an exchange of clutch baskets and momentum, Arizona’s Jaden Bradley stuck the dagger in the Cyclones’ heart, sinking a buzzer-beating shot that was well-defended to lift the Wildcats to an 82-80 victory on March 13 at T-Mobile Center.
Bradley’s game-winner was closely contested by Killyan Toure, but the Wildcat was able to arc the ball just above the outstretched arms of the freshman guard. It hit nothing but net.
“I just went with the flow,” Bradley said afterward. “It was a crazy shot. It was great defense. Just had it going. Iowa State’s a tough defensive team. If you call a timeout, they probably get their defense set, so it was a crazy shot, but it was a great defense for sure.”
The moment came shortly after Tamin Lipsey drilled the game-tying 3-pointer with 15.2 seconds left.
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“Unfortunately, we were one play away and at the same time, our guys are playing terrific basketball,” Cyclones coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “They should hold their head high and we know we have our best still in front of us. We’re going to use this game moving forward as motivation to be even better come next week.”
Iowa State had a 43-37 halftime lead, but it was a close game down the stretch. Neither team led by more than a five-point margin over the last 11:30 of the game.
Milan Momcilovic had a game-high 28 points and shot 8-of-14 from beyond the arc. Joshua Jefferson finished with 21 points, four boards and three steals. Killyan Toure had 12 points.
For Arizona, Anthony Dell’Orso had 26 points off the bench on 10-of-14 shooting. Ivan Kharchenkov chipped in 17 points, five assists and three steals. Bradley finished with 15 points, seven assists and two steals. Tobe Awaka had a 10-point, 10-rebound double-double.
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Here are three takeaways from the Cyclones’ loss:
Big 12 Tournament epic thriller ends in heartbreak for Iowa State, victory for Arizona
It was a thrilling start for the Cyclones, who raced out to a quick 12-point lead in the first five minutes of the contest.
Arizona settled in and snagged its first lead of the game with two minutes to go, before Milan Momcilovic caught fire, went on a personal 9-0 run and sank three 3-pointers in the final 1:23 of the first half to give the Cyclones a 43-37 halftime lead.
The second half was a heavyweight brawl, with both powers trading momentum swings and blows all throughout.
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Over the final 4:30 of the game, both teams combined to make 11-of-13 shots. There were scoring plays on all 11 possessions between both teams during this stretch, including the Wildcats and Cyclones combining to go 7-for-7 from beyond the arc to finish the game.
“It’s obviously not the result we wanted and we obviously wanted to be in the championship (Saturday), but down the stretch it was bucket after bucket and the crowd was great tonight,” Momcilovic said. “It was really a fun game and obviously not the result we wanted.”
Every shot in the closing minutes one-upped the previous make before it.
With 45 seconds left, Jaden Bradley knocked down a difficult, one-legged mid-range jumper, with Killyan Toure draped all over him to give the Wildcats an 80-77 lead.
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Tamin Lipsey, who had eight points and seven assists, but shot 2-of-11, confidently rose up and swished a clutch, game-tying 3-pointer to make it 80-80 with 15.2 seconds left.
“(That play) definitely wasn’t ran for me, I wasn’t shooting the ball great or scoring it great today, but just knowing that you got to keep shooting it, you’re going to put the ball in the hoop and have that confidence,” Lipsey said. “I knew I had Krivas on me, he probably didn’t know what to do guarding me, so if the ball came my way, I was going to shoot it with confidence.”
Iowa State opted to not take a timeout.
“We had a little extra time with the ball kind of rolling around,” Otzelberger said. “We had extra time to communicate that we wanted to be in our switch-5. A lot of times we call a timeout to do that, but because of the flow of the game we’re able to establish that. At the end of the day, Killyan guarded Bradley as perfectly as you could guard him.”
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Toure was all over Bradley with a tenacious shot contest. Bradley knocked down the off-balance game-winner, splashing the ball while falling over and with Toure in his face. There wasn’t much else he could do with an excellent shot contest on both of Bradley’s final two makes.
“He’s a good player, he made the shots,” Toure said. “I just did my job, I don’t know what else I could do on that. It was good defense and it just went in.”
Despite bitter ending, Iowa State has shown signs of improvement
It was a drastically different result from the Cyclones’ 73-57 loss on the road at Tucson on March 2.
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The Cyclones showed how far they’ve come and what they’ve learned in the 11 days since then.
On paper, Iowa State got almost every situation it could have wanted. The Cyclones won the rebounding battle against one of the biggest and most elite rebounding teams in the country, edging Arizona, 34-33. Arizona has lost on the boards on only one other occasion this season. There were several games this year where it outrebounded its foe by 15 or more boards.
The Cyclones got 15 offensive rebounds and had 14 second-chance points. Arizona got 11 boards, but the Cyclones limited their second-chance scoring to seven points.
Iowa State shot a season-low 29.2% in the previous meeting with the Wildcats. This time around, the Cyclones rumbled with the Big 12 regular-season champs all throughout the game.
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“That was probably one of our worst offensive performances of the year at Tucson,” Momcilovic said. “We knew we were going to play better today, and we were going to hit more shots. So I think that was just having confidence in ourselves and our teammates to step up and knock down the shot.”
Defensively, while Bradley shined in clutch time, the Cyclones put the clamps on Arizona’s three other All-Big 12 players. Brayden Burries, Koa Peat and Motiejus Krivas combined for only 14 points. Burries, Arizona’s leading scorer, had three points and shot 0-for-7.
“We’ve grown a lot since the past two weeks and specifically our offense, it’s flowing very well,” Lipsey said. “We changed some things around, how we want to play and we’re just playing more freely and with a lot of confidence. Moving the ball is key for us, but ultimately it starts on the defensive side and getting stops and creating turnovers, which allows us to play more in transition.”
Unfortunately for Iowa State, Anthony Dell’Orso had his best game of the season. Dell’Orso spearheaded the offensive charge while the Wildcats’ stars struggled. He had 26 points on 10-of-14 shooting.
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The Wildcat bench was instrumental in the win. They outscored Iowa State’s bench, 36-3. Dell’Orso shot 4-of-4 from beyond the arc in the second half.
“They’re so physical on the interior, their seals and their post-ups, so whether they get it into the post or they drive when they’re sealing, it causes your help defense to have to rotate,” Otzelberger said. “When they’re able to skip it on the backside, he was effective. Credit to them for making the passes under duress and you still gotta step up and make those shots. That’s a competitor and a big moment, stepping up and knocking down shots.”
Iowa State’s Tamin Lipsey, Killyan Toure OK after injury scares
With 18:31 remaining in the second half, Killyan Toure stayed down and appeared to be clutching his right arm or shoulder in pain.
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Toure had knocked down a few shots in the first half, including a 3-pointer, and was playing well on defense.
He would later return to the game with 15:08 left and finished the contest without any hiccups.
After the game, Toure clarified that it was his right shoulder, an area that had previously nagged him, but he is OK.
“I feel good, I feel good, I used to have problems like that, so just needed to go out, work on it a little bit, but I feel good,” Toure said.
Tamin Lipsey also had a scare, although his was more discreet. After Iowa State got a stop and moved down in transition with less than five minutes remaining, Lipsey slowly jogged his way down court and appeared to be clutching his groin. Iowa State made a few passes before resetting to Joshua Jefferson near mid-court. Lipsey turned and spoke with a referee, and an injury substitution was allowed. Arizona fans seemed displeased by the sudden interruption and change, but Lipsey headed into the locker room after exiting the court.
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He later returned to finish the game, checking back in with 2:55 remaining.
“I was guarding (Jaden) Bradley and just went to slide, and kind of felt like a stretch in my groin,” Lipsey said. “This was the same groin (I injured) in Vegas, but not nearly as the same pain I felt in Vegas, so I knew I’d be able to go back, talk to (Cyclones trainer) Vic (Miller), then obviously be able to back in the game, finish the game, which is a positive and obviously shows that it’s nothing too serious.”
Eugene Rapay covers Iowa State athletics for the Des Moines Register. Contact Eugene at erapay@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @erapay5
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: 3 takeaways from Iowa State basketball’s Big 12 semis loss to Arizona
