Iowa State will travel to Kansas City this week for the Big-12 Tournament. The fifth seeded Cyclones play fourth seeded Oklahoma in Thursday’s opening round and ISU coach Fred Hoiberg feels there are a number of teams that could come away as the champion.
“Anybody could do it, just look at the wins that teams have had over the top teams in the league. You saw what West Virginia did to us in the second half, they did the same thing to Oklahoma in the second half in the previous game, so they are a dangerous team,” Hoiberg says.
After finishing the regular season with two victories the Cyclones appear to have a very good chance of playing in the NCAA Tournament but Hoiberg says they have a chance to add to their resume this week. “I think this last week was huge for us, the fact that we knocked off Oklahoma State at home — the 13th ranked team in the country that had won 11 out of 12 — and then we get a big road win at West Virginia,” Hoiberg says.
The Cyclones Will Clyburn has been named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year. The senior transfer from Utah is averaging better than 15 points and seven rebounds per game. “I knew he was going to be a good player just from watching what he did on the scout team last year…the thing that I saw was just a very versatile basketball player, especially on the offensive end,” according to Hoiberg.
Fellow senior Tyrus McGee was named the Big-12 sixth man of the year. McGee leads the league in three point shooting and Hoiberg says he accepted his role coming off the bench, and gives them a big scoring punch.
Iowa State is 21-10 overall.