Iowa State and Iowa prepare for the start of conference tournament play this week. The Cyclones will be the five seed in the Big 12 Tournament and take on Oklahoma Thursday morning in the quarterfinal round. The Cyclones finished the regular season 21-10 overall and 11-7 in the Big 12 after an 83-74 victory at West Virginia on Saturday.
The Cyclones led by as many as 27 points in the second half and needed to hold off a furious rally by the Mountaineers. A victory by the Cyclones on Thursday would set up a likely Friday night matchup against top seeded and regular season co-champ Kansas.
Iowa State senior Will Clyburn is the Big 12’s Rookie of the Week Award winner for the fourth time this season after averaging 23.5 points and 7.5 rebounds in two ISU victories during the week. Clyburn was picked by a select panel of media who cover Big 12 hoops.
A native of Detroit, Michigan Clyburn was 7-of-10 from the field on the way to 20 points in Iowa State’s 87-76 win over No. 13 Oklahoma State on Wednesday. He also had an ISU-best five assists in the win. He followed that game with his seventh 20-point game of the season, scoring 27 points in ISU’s 83-74 win at West Virginia.
Clyburn grabbed 10 rebounds vs. the Mountaineers to record his seventh double-double this year.
A 17-0 run midway through the second half sent the University of Iowa men’s basketball team to a 74-60 victory over Nebraska on Saturday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The win gives Iowa its first 20-win season since 2005-06 and locks up the No. six seed in next week’s Big Ten Tournament.
The Hawkeyes will face No. 11 seed Northwestern on Thursday night at 8 p.m. in Chicago.