Ames, Ia. - One of Greg McDermott's best friends and old golf partners, a man by the name of Marty Summerfield, died Tuesday. He was just 49 years old.
Heart attack. Summerfield was McDermott's insurance agent back when the Iowa State men's basketball coach was just a young pup learning the ropes at Wayne State (Neb.) College.
McDermott mentioned Summerfield a little bit before the Cyclones' game with Oklahoma. He did so to illustrate a point: You could wallow in the fact you've lost six of seven, that this season was going nowhere fast. Or you could have fun, seize the day, snow drifts and all.
"Forget about what happened in the past," McDermott said in the locker room Tuesday night. "Just go out and play the game. You only get so many opportunities to do it.
Realize how lucky we are." Iowa State 58, Oklahoma 51. And there was not one darned thing lucky about it.
No, sir. The Cyclones went out and played defense, to a man, as if their scholarships hung in the balance. Oklahoma, needing a victory to stay on the NCAA Tournament fence, turned the ball over 12 times in the first half alone.
The Sooners misfired on 14 of their first 20 shots. Iowa State outrebounded Oklahoma, which came into the day ranked second in the Big 12 in rebounding margin (plus-6.6), by two at the break (15-13) and by one overall (30-29).
The Cyclones got a career night from Jiri Hubalek, a solid one from Mike Taylor, and little, timely contributions from every corner of the bench. Three-and-a-half weeks ago, Kansas State showed up at Hilton Coliseum and shoved the hosts around for two hours. When Oklahoma tried to do the same, Iowa State responded by shoving back.
It wasn't pretty. But it was progress. "Guys are doing their best to try and learn our system," McDermott said.
"We're in Chapter 11 or 12 of the algebra book. But we don't know Chapter 1 totally yet. Basketball is a little like algebra.
If you don't know the first part, it's tough to move forward." Tough, but expected. That's what happens during Year One of a new coach, a new system, a new language.
Two steps forward, three steps back. Iowa State is still a true point guard and about eight months in the weight room away from contending for the middle of the Big 12 pack, but wins such as Tuesday's are the kind you can build on. Remember the first half against the Sooners?
That's what Cyclone basketball can look like, you tell your kids. Bruises and all. "They played hungrier than we were.
We played like we had arrived. We played like we had $1 million in our pockets." Say this for the Sooners: They're consistent.
Oklahoma's players shot ugly. Dribbled ugly. Heck, they even missed ugly.
The Sooners are Southern Illinois without that aw-shucks, mid-major, small-town charm. In other words, if you like your basketball to look like pro wrestling, this is the program for you. Capel threw everything at the Cyclones but a folding chair.
Little did he know, ugly is one of the few numbers Iowa State can actually dance to. And have fun while doing it.
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