Iowa State coach Greg McDermott hopes the Cyclones perform in tomorrow night’s game at home against Oklahoma like they did in the second half of Saturday’s loss at Texas. Trailing 42-23 at the half the Cyclones played an inspired second half in a 77-68 loss to the Longhorns. McDermott says he spent very little time making adjustments, he just told them to play possession by possession and forget the score.
McDermott once they quit worrying about who they were playing against and the score, they played better basketball. Iowa State is 3-7 in the Big-12. The Sooners have bounced back from a slow start under first year coach Jeff Capel and have won six of their last eight.
McDermott who says the Sooners have made major strides on offense and the team has bought into what they’re doing on the defensive end. He says they don’t take bad shots and only turn the ball over 11 times a game.
Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel talks about the turn-a-round to the season. He says the guys understand more about what they want to do and what he is looking for. Capel says he also understands the team better. The Sooners had a four-game losing streak in early January but Capel says the schedule had a lot to do with it.
He says the schedule after Christmas was very difficult, especially on the road. Capel says they were getting better, but it wasn’t translating into wins The Sooners are 6-4 in the Big 12. The Cyclones are 12-12 overall.