No. 6 Iowa State faces struggling Utah amid gauntlet of ranked foes
Big 12 power Iowa State is in the midst of a stretch in which five of six opponents are nationally ranked.
Tuesday's contest against unranked Utah in Salt Lake City is supposed to be the breather.
The No. 6 Cyclones (23-4, 10-4 Big 12) are 2-1 so far on the difficult stretch after succumbing 79-69 to No. 23 BYU on Saturday night in Provo, Utah.
Iowa State began the span with a 74-56 home rout of then-No. 9 Kansas on Feb. 14 and a 70-67 home win over then-No. 2 Houston on Feb. 16.
But playing a tough team on the road didn't go well for the Cyclones, who fell to 4-4 on enemy soil this season with the loss to BYU.
"We know who we need to be," Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger said. "We need to come out on the road and have that same level of physical toughness mentality to turn people over. When we did that (against BYU) in short stints, we had success. We need to do it more."
BYU held a 39-28 rebounding advantage and scored the Cyclones 40-22 in the paint. Iowa State also couldn't stop Cougars star AJ Dybantsa, who registered 29 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists.
Hours before the game, the Cyclones were forecasted to be a No. 1 seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
Iowa State point guard Tamin Lipsey said the club didn't play like a team of that status against BYU.
"You have to earn it every game (and) every day," Lipsey said afterward. "Obviously, we didn't earn the right to be there."
Lipsey scored 19 points for Iowa State while Joshua Jefferson had 13 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Jamarion Batemon excelled off the bench with 14 points to raise his scoring average to 6.4.
"We have terrific confidence in his abilities and he works so hard," Otzelberger said of Batemon. "He cares so much. He's a great player for us now and he has so many bright moments ahead as a Cyclone."
Iowa State finishes the challenging six-game stretch with a home game against No. 13 Texas Tech on Saturday before visiting No. 4 Arizona on Monday.
The Utes (10-17, 2-12) are tied for last in the Big 12 and have dropped 13 of their past 15 games.
One of the two wins over a two-month stretch was an 82-79 home win over TCU on Jan. 17. The other was last Wednesday when Utah recorded a 61-56 road win over West Virginia.
On Saturday, the Utes lost 73-71 to UCF after Themus Fulks made two free throws with 3.7 seconds to give the Knights the win.
Utah's Terrence Brown had a chance to force overtime but his jumper bounced off the back of the rim. Brown scored 21 points for his 16th outing of 20 or more points this season. Brown leads the Utes with a 20.2 scoring average.
Utah's Don McHenry, who scored 19 points, was dejected following the contest.
"It just hurts to lose a game that you know you can win," McHenry said. "It didn't happen a bunch of times, but the feeling right now for me is just wishing we could take a couple plays back, because we were there and we could have won that game."
First-year coach Alex Jensen feels like he was watching a replay. The Utes have four losses by six or fewer points since Jan. 10.
"I'm getting sick of the moral victories," Jensen said before referring to a 69-65 loss to Cincinnati on Feb. 15. "We were up five at Cincinnati. We very well could have won that one. I think we're better than our record."
Iowa State routed Utah 82-59 last season at Ames, Iowa.