Iowa State-Baylor Gameday Primer

Iowa State fans will continue to flock to Kansas City as the Cyclones prepare to face Baylor in search of their second Big 12 Championship title. The game will be televised by ESPN at 8 p.m.

An Iowa State win….
…give ISU its fifth conference tournament title and second Big 12 title.
…improve the Cyclones’ winning streak to four games.
…give the Cyclones a 26-7 record heading into Selection Sunday. The 26 wins would be the second most in school history behind only the 32 in 1999-2000.
…make Fred Hoiberg 6-2 in his coaching career against Baylor.

Things to watch…
–  Melvin Ejim needs just three rebounds to tie Zaid Abdul-Aziz for the second most in school history. Ejim enters the game with 1,022 caroms in his career.
–  Ejim is expected to start his 123^rd game, which would match Coach Hoiberg for the second-most in school history.
–  Naz Long is averaging 10.7 points in the last three games and has hit 6-of-9 from downtown.
–  The Cyclones are 19-of-37 on 3-pointers at the Big 12 Tournament…DeAndre Kane has hit 6-of-8 attempts and is shooting 40 percent from long range this season.

Worth Noting
–  Fred Hoiberg and his staff’s use of Daniel Edozie in this tournament has been brilliant. Edozie has been used to give Niang a breather before media timeouts, thus helping keep a major part of ISU’s offense out of foul trouble as well. Edozie was great in his action yesterday, converting a huge three-point play the old-fashioned way.

Did you know?
–  Iowa State’s 91 points vs. Kansas State and 94 vs. Kansas were the most both opponents have allowed this season.
–  The Cyclones have scored at least 44 points in each of the last five halves (does not include overtimes).

Coming out strong!
–  Iowa State is 31-of-53 (58.5 percent) from the field in the second half of the last two games.

In Case You Missed It
–  Check out John Walters’ recap of the game. The crew at Cyclones.tv does a great job bringing you inside the action. Click here to view our Championship Central page.

He Said It
–  As we were walking to the postgame press conference, DeAndre Kane said that as Athletic Trainer Vic Miller rushed out to tend to Georges Niang, the sophomore looked at Miller and said “Yo, Vic. I’m going to be able to play tomorrow, right?”

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Enjoy the day, Cyclone Nation!