For Michele Bachmann, last night’s Iowa caucus was the end of the road for her 2012 presidential campaign. On the other end of the spectrum, frontrunners Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, and Ron Paul didn’t lock up November’s general election, but kept themselves alive by proving contenders to 120,000 farmers in America’s heartland.

That seemingly random intro leads us to this awkward segue, where we make the leap that for the Texas Longhorns, tonight’s conference opener at Iowa State provides a test similar to the Iowa caucus. A game that is seemingly inconsequential on paper — much like the opinions of 120,000 people in a country of 300-million — could prove huge in Texas’ pursuit of an NCAA bid. While a ticket to March Madness pales in comparison to a national party’s ticket to the general election, it’s clear that how Texas performs tonight will set the stage for conference play.

The Longhorns finished non-conference with a solid 10-3 mark, but lack any signature wins to beef up their NCAA résumé. The victory over Temple came when the Owls were lacking two star players, while a road win at UCLA is tarnished by the pathetic season the Bruins are stumbling through. In a very deep and balanced Big 12, the Longhorns will be tested every single night, and have to take the wins wherever they can get them. While the Cyclones are a scary (but inconsistent) team and Hilton Coliseum is not an easy venue to steal a win in, tonight’s game approaches must-win territory when you consider that the Longhorns have to play two games each against Baylor, Kansas, and Missouri.

By the numbers

Iowa State is near the top of the charts when it comes to three-pointers, and that’s clearly by design. Coach Fred Hoiberg typically has four players spread out on the perimeter, and often even moves big man Royce White (No. 30) to the top of the key for ball screens and iso plays. As a result, the Cyclones take nearly 43% of their shots from behind the arc, the 17th-highest percentage in the nation.

Fortunately, Iowa State is very streaky from behind the arc. On the year, they are making 37.8% from long range, which puts them in the Top 60 nationally. But when you break those numbers down, it’s clear that the Cyclones are a perfect example of the “live by the three, die by the three” cliché. In the team’s three losses — to Drake, Northern Iowa, and Michigan — they made just 16-of-64 (25%) from beyond the arc. In their ten wins, they sank 41.3% of their attempts, averaging just under 10 makes per victory.

The Cyclones also earn a fair share of points at the line, with more than 17 per game coming from free throws. Combining all of those freebies with the three-pointers means that just 42.3% of Iowa State’s points come from inside the arc. While that may seem like a large percentage, there are only 11 teams in the country who score less points from two-point range.

As would be expected, the bulk of the team’s free throws come from White getting fouled down low. Beyond that, there are some surprising numbers coming from guard Bubu Palo (No. 1), a former walk-on from Ames who has finally earned a scholarship for the spring semester. Palo draws an average of seven fouls per 40 minutes, and has an improbably high free-throw rate of 192.9%, meaning he shoots almost twice as many free throws as field goals.

Meet the Cyclones

As you could likely guess by this point, as Royce White goes, so go the Cyclones. At 6’8″, 270 pounds, he’s a remarkably big guy who was voted Big 12 Newcomer of the Year despite not playing a competitive game of basketball in over 900 days. White won a state title as a high schooler in Minnesota and elected to play close to home for Tubby Smith and the Golden Gophers. Unfortunately, he never played a single game there, sidelined by a slew of off the court issues — shoplifting at the Mall of America, assault of a mall security guard, and the theft of a laptop from a Minnesota dorm room.

With a fresh start at Iowa State, White has been able to show off his impressive skillset. Despite the big body, he is a deft passer and pretty good ball handler, giving Coach Hoiberg more flexibility on the offensive end. With that unusual blend of talents, White is tops on the team in points (13.1 per game), rebounds (8.9), and assists (3.9). He hardly played in the team’s last game thanks to flu-like symptoms, but should be back to full strength after three days of rest.

With defenses paying so much attention to White, that opens things up on the perimeter for the Cyclone guards. Chris Babb, a 6’5″ transfer from Penn State, is knocking down 36.4% of his long range attempts. He’s primarily a perimeter player, with nearly 80% of his shots coming from beyond the arc. Babb’s length in the backcourt is also a great boost on defense, and provides the Cyclones with an edge on the glass. He also runs the floor really well, which is huge for a team that can sometimes get bogged down in its half-court sets.

While Babb is seemingly glued to the perimeter on the offensive end, the team’s true marksman is senior Scott Christopherson (No. 11), who has made more than 40% of his attempts so far this year. Shockingly, that number actually represents a decline for the senior, who boasts a career three-point mark of 43%. It’s also worth noting that even Christopherson fits with Iowa State’s Transfer U theme, as he played his freshman season at Marquette in his home state of Wisconsin.

The third guard in Iowa State’s starting five is former Michigan State Spartan Chris Allen (No. 4), who is the closest thing the team has to a starting point guard. Although White can bring the ball up the floor and is the top assist man, Allen is generally the one setting the table on offense. Like Babb and Christopherson, the senior is a threat from outside, where he’s made 35.6% of his attempts. Unlike the other two guards, though, Allen can create shots for himself off the dribble, and does a good job attacking the paint on the bounce to get the defense moving.

Rounding out the starting lineup is Canadian product Melvin Ejim (No. 3), who doesn’t typically put up big numbers, but provides a solid rebounding and defensive presence. In the team’s most recent game, the sophomore was thrust into a bigger role thanks to White’s illness. He responded very well, posting an impressive 15-point, 15-rebound line that included a pair of triples.

The Cyclone bench isn’t used for a ton of minutes, but Coach Hoiberg does have instant offense available in the form of Tyrus McGee (No. 25). An All-American at the junior college level, McGee is an exciting player who can create shots without turning it over. Although he averages less than 20 minutes per game, McGee is fourth on the team in scoring with 9.8 points per game and has a turnover rate of just 10%.

The other primary reserve for Iowa State is Palo, who won the state title in Iowa as a point guard. On a team that lacks a quality floor general, that experience translates into playing time, and he sees the floor for 16 minutes per game. As previously mentioned, Palo does a great job attacking with the dribble and drawing fouls. Unfortunately, he’s not as good when it comes to converting those attempts, sinking just 64.8% of his tries at the charity stripe.

Iowa State also has a pair of frontcourt reserves each averaging about 12 minutes per game in Anthony Booker (No. 22) and freshman Percy Gibson (No. 24). Booker is yet another transfer for Coach Hoiberg, coming to Ames from Southern Illinois. He has a serviceable offensive skillset, but typically just produces on the glass and on the defensive end.

Gibson was the top-rated high school prospect out of Detroit and had originally committed to Dayton. But when Flyer coach Brian Gregory departed for Georgia Tech, assistant Cornell Mann made his way to Ames. Having been recruited by Mann, Gibson made the same switch and ended up at Iowa State. He’s yet to truly explode, but you can already see his skills. Gibson is a long, lean 6’9″, which makes him more mobile than a lot of other bigs, and that leads to some easy buckets and boards.

Keys to the game

1) Lock down the perimeter – Although White is the headlining star on this team, the numbers make it clear that Iowa State wins and loses games behind the arc. The Cyclones will certainly make some threes in this game, but if Texas can limit the damage, they will stand a good chance to win this one on the road.

2) Attack on offense – The Cyclone defense has looked porous at times, falling victim to both dribble penetration and off-ball movement. Teams are constantly abusing them with backdoor cuts, while driving guards often find their trip to the rim is rather easy. If J’Covan Brown and Myck Kabongo play aggressively, the Texas offense should be able to pile up some points.

3) Clean the defensive glass – It’s been a recurring theme in this section of the game previews, but it bears repeating. Texas must limit second-chance points by closing out defensive possessions with rebounds. On paper, Iowa State’s perimeter-oriented attack would seem to make this an easier task, but the ‘Clones are actually one of the 100 best offensive rebounding teams in the nation. The Longhorns have to neutralize White and Ejim on the glass to make sure the sharpshooting Cyclones don’t get extra looks.

With just four games left in the regular season, Texas was in dire need a bounce-back win after suffering their first conference loss of the season on Saturday. Fortunately for Rick Barnes and the Longhorns, the schedule-makers helped out in that department. Texas had the good fortune of hosting the Iowa State Cyclones, Big 12 cellar dwellers, and took care of business in fashion. The Longhorns turned in another brilliant defensive performance and stifled the short-handed Cyclones, coasting to a 76-53 win.

While fans shouldn’t get too excited about thumping the worst team in the conference, the win allowed the team a chance to iron out some wrinkles that had popped up in Lincoln. Jordan Hamilton and Tristan Thompson took advantage of favorable matchups to have great games, while Dogus Balbay played out of his mind for 23 minutes. The Longhorns certainly have much bigger challenges waiting in the next three games, but it’s reassuring to see that the team was able to rebound quickly from one of their most disappointing performances of the season.

What looked good

Hamilton was the Texas player who most needed a shot in the arm, and he found it in a big way on Tuesday night. After shooting just 24% from the field in the team’s previous two games, Hamilton lit up the scoreboard against the Cyclones. He made 50% of his attempts, including 3-of-4 from behind the arc. His two threes in the second half helped fuel a Texas run that extended the team’s lead from just nine at half to more than 20 in a matter of minutes. In the first half, Hamilton even added the rare four-point play after being fouled by Melvin Ejim on a made three.

Thompson also had a breakout night against a smaller Iowa State frontcourt that was without its big defensive presence, 6’11” Jamie Vanderbeken. Tristan posted a double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds, while piling up the fouls on the Cyclone bigs. Calvin Godfrey fouled out of the game, while Ejim and Jordan Railey finished with four personals each. Most teams will provide a much stiffer test for Thompson in the post, but it’s a good sign that the team identified the mismatches and mercilessly exploited them.

Gary Johnson also had a double-double against Iowa State, scoring 14 points to go with his 12 rebounds. Perhaps most importantly, Johnson finally took the opportunity to step out and knock down a three-pointer in this game.

As we mentioned last month, Gary is one of the nation’s best shooters when it comes to shooting in the “danger zone,” located from 17-feet out to the three-point arc. It’s the furthest shot on the court that isn’t worth an extra point, so the risk is much greater than the reward. When we ran the numbers back on January 15th, Johnson was scoring 1.2 points per shot in that “danger zone.” It seems a natural progression for the senior to take a few steps back and earn an extra point for the team.

Another senior that chipped in with a quality outing was Dogus Balbay, who kept the Longhorn machine churning in the second half with hustle play all over the court. With the Cyclones sagging off of him in ways not seen since the 2009-10 season, Balbay attacked the paint off the dribble and contributed six points and two assists. More importantly, his active hands on defense deflected numerous passes out of bounds to disrupt the Cyclones, while he added a steal and a pair of impressive blocks late in the game.

As far as the numbers go, the Longhorn performance was absolutely dominant. Texas scored just 11 points in the final 11 minutes of the game, yet still finished with an impressive 23-point victory. The defense, meanwhile, squashed any hopes of an upset by holding the Cyclones scoreless for a combined 7:39 to open and close out the first half.

In terms of efficiency, the Longhorns put up the second-best outing against Iowa State all season. They held the Cyclones to just 0.767 points per possession, thanks largely in part to excellent perimeter defense. Although Iowa State had some open long-range looks early, they missed many of them, and Texas quickly adjusted to lock down the arc. The Cyclones, who were one of the nation’s top fifty teams from long range, managed to make just 25% of their three-point attempts against Texas.

Add in the fact that the Longhorns had a brief stretch in the first half where they were unable to stop Iowa State’s dribble-drive, and those stifling defensive numbers are even more impressive. After grabbing a 4-0 lead out of the gate, Texas allowed the Cyclones to score 13 points in just seven possessions, thanks to four layups and a dunk. Once the Longhorns made the effort to shut down the dribble penetration, Iowa State was limited to mostly contested jumpers. Excluding that four-minute stretch of porous defense, Texas held the Cyclones to an unbelievable 0.656 points per possession.

What needed work

In all honesty, there was very little to nitpick in Tuesday night’s game. The Longhorns had that four-minute stretch of weak defense which we just addressed, but otherwise they appeared impenetrable.

From the free-throw line, the team actually started 10-for-13 before finishing just 3-for-8 down the stretch. That gave the Longhorns a 61.9% success rate at the line, which has unfortunately become par for the course at this point. As usual, Thompson was the main offender, making just one of his six attempts.

Jai Lucas had a disappointing 1-of-7 night from the field, finally breaking through late in the game with a pull-up jumper a few feet inside the arc. Fortunately, the Iowa State game gave Jai a harmless opportunity to work on his shot at game speed. Unfortunately, the extra time didn’t seem to make much of a difference.

It’s essentially a given that Lucas will have to chew up some minutes down the stretch to give the starters some rest. Hopefully, he will be more of a floor manager and less of a shooter in games that are a little more tightly contested. Limiting his playing time to stints in which other scorers are on the floor should help to limit the damage during those stretches.

Up next: at Colorado (16-11 overall, 5-7 Big 12); Saturday, 3 P.M. CT

With just four games left in the regular season, the Texas Longhorns have the chance to be the first team not named Kansas to win an outright Big 12 title in the last seven years. Before losing to Nebraska on Saturday, that outcome seemed all but guaranteed for Texas. But with that pesky loss now on their record, the Longhorns have almost no margin for error down the stretch. Kansas has only one game left that seems like a possible loss, coming on the final day of the season when they travel to Columbia to take on Mizzou.

Texas, meanwhile, has a handful of tough games left on its plate. Road trips to Colorado and Baylor are certainly not guaranteed wins, and the Longhorns still have to host a Kansas State team that upset the Jayhawks last Monday. Tonight’s tussle with Iowa State is the only “easy” game left for Texas during these last two weeks, so they absolutely have to take care of business in this one.

By the numbers

Offensively, Iowa State ranks in the top third of Division I basketball, but it’s practically all thanks to their three-point shooting. The Cyclones are ranked 48th nationally with a 37.6% mark behind the arc, and they take nearly 38% of their shots from that distance.

Iowa State hardly ever gets to the line, and in fact the Cyclones have a team free-throw rate that is third-worst in the entire country. This is a product of their reliance on jump shots, particularly three-pointers. The low FTR for Iowa State is a welcome sight for the Longhorns, who suffered on Saturday when Gary Johnson had to sit with early foul problems. Against the Cyclones, very few Texas players should be in foul trouble tonight.

The Longhorns will also benefit from the lack of offensive rebounding by Iowa State. The Cyclones grab just 29.7% of their misses, and have struggled even more in conference play, where they have an offensive rebounding mark of just 26.4%. On Saturday, Texas allowed the Cornhuskers to have a field day on the offensive glass, despite the fact that Nebraska also had an offensive rebounding mark below 30% in Big 12 play. The Longhorns simply cannot fail to exploit this advantage in a second-straight game.

Although Iowa State has won just one game in conference play, they have competed in almost every contest. They have six conference losses by six points or less, and have been defeated twice in overtime. While Texas is certainly more talented than the Cyclones, don’t be surprised if Iowa State makes this a much closer game than most are expecting.

Meet the Cyclones

Fatigue is likely a big reason why the Cyclones have fallen short so many times this season. Iowa State has perhaps the thinnest rotation that Texas has faced all year, with only seven men seeing significant playing time. More importantly, the starting five accounts for 81% of the team’s minutes. If the bigger, more physical Longhorns manage to get the Iowa State starters into foul trouble, there isn’t much more in the cupboard for first-year coach Fred Hoiberg.

The Cyclones are led by Diante Garrett, a combo guard who can carry the team with his scoring when he isn’t dishing out assists. Garrett is really the only player on the Iowa State roster who can repeatedly break down opponents off the dribble, which allows him to both get to the rack and create openings for his teammates when defenses react.

Garrett is averaging more than six assists per game, best in the Big 12 by a wide margin. His 17.3 points per game is fifth-best in the league, but his eye-popping numbers are overshadowed by Iowa State’s poor record.

Garrett is joined in the backcourt by sharpshooter Scott Christopherson. The junior from Wisconsin has hit more than 45% of his three-point attempts, a mark that is tops in the Big 12 and 23rd-best in D-I basketball. Christopherson has had four different games in which he’s made at least five three-pointers — including two games in which he sank seven triples — and has made at least one three in every game he’s played this year.

Another scorer in the backcourt is senior Jake Anderson, who arrived in Ames after three years as a starter at Northern Illinois, where he played for former Colorado coach Ricardo Patton. Anderson is actually the team’s best rebounder despite being just 6’2″, as he averages 7.5 boards per game. He can make aggressive moves off the dribble and is smart enough to identify mismatches when he has smaller guards isolated on defense near the paint.

The only other guard to play significant minutes for Coach Hoiberg is Bubu Palo, a sixth man who brings energy off the bench. Palo redshirted his freshman season after being recruited to Ames as a walk-on, and is now providing nearly 15 minutes per game. He can take over ballhandling duties when Garrett needs a breather, as Palo was the starting point guard for his high school team, which won the Iowa state championship in 2009. You may have even heard of one of Palo’s Ames High teammates, a kid by the name of Harrison Barnes.

In the frontcourt, the Cyclones counter Texas’ Toronto connection with their own Canadian product, Melvin Ejim. At 6’6″, the freshman has already shown the ability to defend bigger, more physical players. Unfortunately, he’s also revealed a tendency to get beat by more athletic forwards who can take him off the dribble, like Tech’s Mike Singletary and the Morris twins at Kansas.

Even with that knock against him, Ejim is a solid defender and rebounder, and can score easily inside or with his smooth mid-range jumper. Although he doesn’t shoot it as often as his teammates, Ejim has even shown the ability to occasionally knock down the three.

Also in the frontcourt is Jamie Vanderbeken, an excellent three-point shooter who can pull opposing big men out of the paint with his long-range threat. His ability to score from the perimeter opens up the driving lanes for Garrett and Anderson, and the guards often find Vanderbeken wide open behind the arc when defenses collapse on them in the paint.

Thanks to his prediliction for playing on the perimeter, Vanderbeken’s offensive rebounding numbers are unimpressive for a 6’11” guy. On defense, though, he plays like a big man. His 1.8 blocks per game are 3rd in the Big 12, and he’s third on the team in defensive rebounding.

Off the bench, Iowa State has two frontcourt options in Calvin Godfrey and Jordan Railey. While Godfrey plays nearly twice as many minutes as Railey, the Cyclones will likely call on both of them for extra minutes against a bigger Texas team tonight. Both forwards have had major issues with foul trouble so far this year, so they will likely have a tough time trying to contain the Longhorn frontcourt in this one.

Keys to the game

The quickest way for Texas to put away the Cyclones tonight is to lock down the perimeter. Besides Garrett, Iowa State lacks any true creators, so the Longhorns must make sure that the Cyclone sharpshooters aren’t getting open looks from behind the arc. Garrett simply cannot beat Texas on his own, and as long as his outlets are being covered, he also won’t be able to kill the Horns with well-timed kick-outs for three.

The Longhorns also need to control the defensive glass tonight. They did a terrible job of this on Saturday, and it ultimately cost them the game in Lincoln. With the Cyclones guaranteed to take a lot of long-range jumpers tonight, Texas cannot afford to let the long caroms get away from them. The Longhorns have to grab those missed shots and limit the number of chances Iowa State has to do damage from three-point range.

Finally, Texas must abuse Iowa State inside. Kansas absolutely decimated the smaller Cyclone lineup behind great performances by the Morris twins, who averaged a combined 40 points and 23 rebounds in their two games against Iowa State. If Tristan Thompson and Gary Johnson can get going early against the Cyclones, the Longhorns will rack up the points and also hang some fouls on a thin ISU frontcourt.

Not a ton of time to write about last night’s win, as the quarterfinals tip off in a little over an hour. With that time constraint in mind, let’s quickly hit some of our key thoughts about last night’s game.

1) Damion James and Dexter Pittman looked like leaders – While Texas struggled to put the Cyclones away for the entire ballgame, Damion James tried his hardest to do it single-handedly. Midway through the second half, he became a human vacuum, grabbing practically every board in sight. When Iowa State went over seven minutes without a single field goal, a huge cause of their offensive ineptitude was James’ dominance on the glass. The Cyclones were simply unable to get second chances.

Meanwhile, Dexter Pittman finally showed some swagger as the Longhorns started to put it together. While Big Pitt still had some early issues with making weak moves to the basket that resulted in missed shots, his 19 minutes on the court were extremely efficient. Pittman scored 16 points and grabbed five boards on the night. Having a confident Dexter in the middle instead of a frustrated one makes a huge difference in not only the team’s performance, but also its entire demeanor.

2) Gary Johnson doesn’t have to be the sixth man – There was some theorizing that Gary Johnson didn’t work his way into the starting lineup very often this season because he just felt more comfortable coming off the bench. But after posting a 15/10 double-double against the Cyclones, Johnson seems right at home as a part of the starting five. The junior forward played 39 minutes, including the entire first half. With Pittman’s performance still unpredictable from night to night, Gary’s emergence as a breakout star has been the most exciting storyline down the stretch.

3) J’Covan Brown is back in the doghouse – When Justin Mason picked up his second foul just six-and-a-half minutes into the game, Jai Lucas hopped off the bench to take over point guard duties. Lucas responded well, truly playing the role of bus driver. He didn’t do anything flashy, but didn’t make any mistakes either. He simply made sure the team ended up where it needed to be.

What’s worthy of a raised eyebrow, however, is the fact that J’Covan Brown stayed on the bench until the final three minutes of the half. Brown certainly struggled against Baylor on Saturday — but honestly, which Longhorns didn’t? — and it seems that put him firmly back in Rick Barnes’ doghouse.

While Lucas has shown his ability to be a serviceable point, he lacks the slashing ability that Brown can bring to the table. Texas settled for a lot of threes and long jumpers, something that could have been avoided if there was a guard on the floor with strong driving ability. And, of course, there’s no reason that both Lucas and Brown couldn’t have been on the floor at the same time.

Texas moves on to face Baylor in the quarterfinals tonight. The Longhorns are hoping to avoid a third loss to the Bears this season, and a fourth consecutive one. We’ll be back with a brief game preview in between the afternoon and evening sessions. In the meantime, keep up with all the action from the Sprint Center by following the LRT Twitter.

Texas makes its first road trip of conference play as they travel to Ames, Iowa tonight, but there’s a much bigger “first” in play when the team hits the court at 7 P.M. The Longhorns will be playing their first game in school history as the top-ranked team in the nation.

At first blush, the match-up with Iowa State seems like it should be a cakewalk, just another notch in the win column as the Longhorns march on to next week’s showdowns with Kansas State and Connecticut. But regardless of how good or bad the Cyclones are in any given year, Hilton Coliseum still manages to be a house of horrors for visiting opponents. The venue even has a name for its own special brand of home-court advantage — they call it “Hilton Magic.”

Add in the fact that every team plays with extra effort to knock off number one, and consider the always-dangerous possibility that players start buying into their own media hype, and you could have a recipe for an inexplicable stumble in an “easy” game. That’s why Coach Rick Barnes told his team on Monday afternoon “I can’t honestly tell you who the No. 1 team was in the country on the second week of January last year. But I do know who won the national championship.” Maintaining focus the rest of the way will be necessary for Texas to avoid an embarrassing pratfall.

By the numbers

Despite the fact that former Cyclone Wes Johnson is tearing it up for Syracuse, the current Iowa State squad is much improved from last season. Where once there was only Craig Brackins and a cast of underachieving role players, now there is depth and talent.

As a result, the Cyclones are enjoying efficiency numbers on both sides of the ball that rank in the top 100 in the country. They average a per-possession differential of +1.22 points, and as a result, they no longer have to play slow games where they attempt to limit the number of possessions.

The key component of the Iowa State offense is their three-point accuracy. While the Cyclones don’t actually take a ton of long-range looks, their incredible success rate from behind the arc opens up the inside game for their big men. Iowa State has made more than 42% of their three-point attempts, but still take nearly 70% of their shots from inside the arc.

Defensively, Iowa State provides a complete change of pace from the Colorado team that Texas just faced. While the Buffaloes constantly put their opponents on the free-throw line, only seven teams in the country do that less often than the Cyclones. For a Texas team that often struggles from the stripe, this could be a very good thing for the offense.

Although the Longhorns do struggle with free throws, Iowa State is yet another opponent that will have similar problems from the charity stripe. Just like Arkansas and North Carolina, the Cyclones leave a ton of points at the line, making just 63.3% of their attempts so far this year.

Meet the Cyclones

The only household name on the Iowa State roster is Craig Brackins (16.9 PPG/8.1 RPG). The junior toyed with heading to the NBA after last season, but returned for another year and was rewarded with Preseason All-American honors. At 6’10”, 230 pounds, Brackins is an extremely versatile player who can shoot from anywhere on the floor and can adequately handle any position in the lineup. His wide-ranging skill set allows Coach Greg McDermott much more flexibility with lineups, and it gives opposing defenses fits when trying to match up with him. Brackins is the team’s most accurate three-point shooter so far, hitting 52% of his 27 attempts, and that long-range threat allows him to pull bigger defenders out of the paint.

Newcomer Marquis Gilstrap (14.3 PPG/8.4 RPG) is a senior playing in his first season for the Cyclones. He transferred after playing one year at Gulf Coast Community College in Florida, where he suffered a horrible knee injury that sidelined him for all of 2006 and 2007. Iowa State is hoping to get him another year with a medical redshirt, but if this is truly his last collegiate season, he is certainly making the most of it.

Gilstrap is an incredibly athletic wing player with great handles, and can also score from anywhere on the court. His rebounding numbers are tops on the team, and although he’s only taken 39 threes, he’s made 41% of them. Just like Brackins, Gilstrap is a tough match-up, although he lacks some of the size to bang inside with the bigger post players of the Big 12.

The floor leader for Iowa State is Diante Garrett (8.4 PPG/5.4 APG), a 6’4″ guard who has a solid shot, but prefers to facilitate the offense. He can break down defenders off the dribble and get to the rack, but more often than not, Garrett dishes it off to one of his bigs when he penetrates the lane. He’s improved his defense in the offseason, which has earned him even more playing time at a position where the Cyclones are loaded with talent.

One of those other talented point guards is freshman Chris Colvin (3.2 PPG/2.1 APG). He was one of the nation’s top prospects at his position and provides solid defense with his really long wingspan. Fortunately for Texas, the freshman is suspended for this game for a violation of team rules. That suspension likely means more playing time tonight for sophomore guard Dominique Buckley (1.6 PPG), another steady ballhandler who provides depth at the point.

Also in the backcourt is German gunner Lucca Staiger (9.0 PPG/1.9 RPG). He leads the team in threes with 42, and is sinking them at nearly a 43% clip so far this season. He’s not very adept at creating his own shot, but the Cyclones are good when it comes to freeing him up for open looks. If they can set good screens tonight, Staiger will certainly knock down a few clutch triples.

The most surprising player of the season has to be big man Justin Hamilton. He’s a 6’11” sophomore from Utah who brought low expectations with him to Ames. He had a few breakout games in his freshman campaign, but has improved to become a consistent contributor this year. Hamilton started in each of the Cyclones’ first 14 games, but a head injury kept him out of Saturday’s win over North Dakota State.

If Hamilton is healthy enough to play tonight, his performance down low against the Texas frontcourt will be integral. Fail to produce, and the Longhorns can focus on shutting down Brackins and Gilstrap. Play well, and suddenly Texas has its hands full picking which poison to swallow.

Providing more depth in the frontcourt is junior college transfer LaRon Dendy (7.4 PPG/3.4 RPG). He is a big, long player who can really hang in the air to get rebounds and tip-ins. His scrappy style and hustle for loose balls really reminds me of Gary Johnson, and should the two directly match up tonight, it ought to be fun to see who wins the 50/50 balls. The biggest knock on Dendy, however, is his pitiful 47% mark at the free throw line, where the comparisons to Johnson quickly end.

Coming off the bench for Coach McDermott are a pair of marksmen in Jamie Vanderbeken (4.1 PPG) and Scott Christopherson (7.3 PPG). Vanderbeken is a senior whose minutes have been limited by the influx of talent to the Ames campus, but he still makes his presence known in his shorter stints on the court. He has knocked down 50% of his threes this year, although he has taken only 16 from behind the arc. Christopherson, meanwhile, has the same 50% success rate, but has put up 34 tries. A 6’3″ sophomore, Christopherson is a transfer from Marquette and is coming off of knee surgery in the off-season.

The final player in the ten-man rotation that the Cyclones employ is sophomore Charles Boozer (3.7 PPG/1.6 RPG). The younger brother of Utah Jazz star Carlos Boozer, the 6’3″ guard had a breakout game on Saturday against North Dakota State. After averaging just 2.6 points per contest coming into it, Boozer had 19 points filling in for the suspended Colvin. He did it with hustle and an impressive 7-of-11 shooting night, including 3-of-6 from long range. Look for Boozer to again grab a bunch of minutes at the two against Texas.

Keys to the game

The Longhorns have one of the nation’s best interior defenses statistically, and that will be tested against a deeper Iowa State frontcourt than we’ve seen in recent years. But where Texas is likely most vulnerable is on the perimeter, where the Cyclones are liable to get hot at a moment’s notice. In most shocking upsets, you’ll find that the less-talented team hit their fair share of three-pointers, and ISU is certainly capable of doing that tonight. Texas must limit the damage from long range.

If the Cyclones aren’t scoring three at a time, they are going to need a ton of points from their junior stud Brackins. While Gilstrap and Dendy are solid additions, they won’t be able to beat Texas on their own. If the Longhorns can turn Brackins into a mere mortal, it would seem that Iowa State has almost no chance to pull off the upset.

Our third thing to watch tonight is not a key, but rather a historical milestone. Damion James enters tonight’s game just eleven rebounds shy of claiming the all-time Big 12 crown, currently held by Kansas’ Nick Collison. It’s no guarantee that DaMo will hit the magic number against this Iowa State frontcourt, but there’s still a good possibility that the double-double machine could break the record tonight.