What No. 12 Iowa State said about Big 12 tournament rematch with No. 17 BYU

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Just nine days removed from arguably the game of the year in the Big 12 men's basketball, No. 17 BYU and Iowa State are set for a rematch at T-Mobile Arena.

Will the sequel at "Ames South" live up to the original score, an 83-80 double-overtime thriller at Hilton Coliseum?

"BYU is a good program," said Dishon Jackson, who had 10 points and a career-high 15 rebounds in the Cyclones' 76-56 win over 13th-seeded Cincinnati. "They came and smacked us in the mouth in the beginning of the game so just coming out with a good sense of urgency tomorrow will help us get it done."

Joshua Jefferson added 19 points, eight rebounds and five assists in the Cyclones' 76-56 win over Cincinnati, a game that featured four Iowa State players and a 41-23 rebounding advantage.

Iowa State (24-8) jumped out early in its second-round game against 13th-seeded Cincinnati, taking the lead with a 12-2 less than six minutes into the contest and never letting up.

Jizzle James scored 17 points for Cincinnati, which pulled within a single possession a couple of times before the Cyclones ended on a 13-3 run and held the Bearcats scoreless for the final 4 minutes, 18 seconds.

BYU was watching Wednesday's game together, with several coaches "live-scouting" and preparing the full scouting report, assistant coach Chris Burgess told BYUtv before the game.

Even without an NCAA Tournament berth or top-25 ranking on the line, the Cougars still have a lot to prove, he added.

"At this point, we're just trying to do the best we can to get the best seed we can going into the NCAA Tournament, have a little momentum, and play with the best of them," Burgess said. "This tournament is as hard as any in the country, and that includes the NCAA Tournament.

"For us, it's continuing to prove that we belong; we belong in the top 15 in the country, we belong with the best of them. ... Those teams are teams that a lot of people come Selection Sunday will have circled in their brackets.

Iowa State could potentially be shorthanded Thursday, though. Keyshon Gilbert did not play in the second half due to an injury, and Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger said the senior from Saint Louis will be re-evaluated later tonight and in the morning after exiting the game with a lack of explosion.

Tamin Lipsey also left early after scoring 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting in 28 minutes, but Otzelberger said he expects him to play against the Cougars.

The duo combined for 28 points in 84 minutes in the first game against BYU.

"We will stretch him out and do everything we can to get him ready to play tomorrow, if that's a possibility," Otzelberger said of Gilbert.

Three of the four first-round games Tuesday saw seed-line upsets, with Cincinnati bumping No. 12 Oklahoma State, No. 16 Colorado storming past No. 9 TCU, and No. 14 UCF eliminating No. 11 Utah in the late tip.

Iowa State will be the lower seed against the fourth-seeded Cougars, but the advantages are smaller than that. The two were separated by just one game in the Big 12 standings — ultimately, the one that was BYU's first win at Hilton Coliseum in program history.

That one win officially lifted BYU (23-8) into a tie for third in the conference, though the Cougars were put on the No. 4-seed line over No. 3 Arizona due to a tiebreaker that involved BYU's 72-67 loss to Texas Tech back on Jan. 7. That was the only meeting of the year between the Cougars and Red Raiders, who earned the conference's No. 2 seed with a 15-5 record.

But since then, BYU has been among the hottest in the country with an eight-game winning streak for a Cougar squad playing like the second-best team in the country, according to barttorvik.com.

Iowa State, ranked No. 12 nationally in the most recent Associated Press Top 25, is playing like the No. 12 team nationally by the same metric.

Hence, the Cyclones will get the rematch its fans have been hoping against a BYU team it's beaten in seven of the last nine meetings (10:30 a.m. MDT, ESPN2). Both Iowa State and BYU are securely in the NCAA Tournament field, but the Cougars could secure a current 5-seed projection and the Cyclones a top-three seed from the most recent bracket projection by ESPN's Joe Lunardi.

But Big 12 Game of the Year, Part 2? That's certainly a possibility.

"They're playing at an extremely high level," Otzerlberger said of BYU. "They came into our building and earned a victory — did a great job. We will prepare for a victory like we play for every opponent and every opportunity and we will aim to control what we can control and be at our absolute best coming out tomorrow."

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