Porter Moser on Iowa State's physicality: 'You can't simulate that'

The Iowa State Cyclones’ physicality gave them the win over Oklahoma on Wednesday. After the game, OU head coach Porter Moser revealed how Iowa State’s physical play affected his team.

“You can’t simulate that,” Moser said. “You can watch it on tape and everything, but you just got to have some toughness with it. I mean they did a great job. Their physical guards, too. [Tamin] Lipsey, he’s put together. I think he’s 200 pounds. [Keshon] Gilbert’s put together.

“They slide their feet, but then they rotate, they plug. [Robert Jones] is out there heating up ball screens. They’re very good defensively.”

In the loss, Oklahoma committed 14 turnovers, which the Cyclones translated into 13 points. Iowa State tallied eight steals in the contest, four times as many as the Sooners. When the Cyclones couldn’t squeeze a turnover out of OU, they made it difficult to find a shot.

Oklahoma shot 15-46 (32.6%) from the field and 3-17 (17.6%) from beyond the arc. For reference, the Sooners are shooting 33.7% from 3-point range this season. Oklahoma isn’t the first team that’s struggled against Iowa State’s defense this year.

The Cyclones boast the No. 7 defense in the country, only allowing 62.3 points per game. Houston and Virginia are the only two Power Five teams giving up fewer points per contest. With the loss, Oklahoma is now 19-9 and sits at No. 8 in the Big 12 standings.

Porter Moser addresses Big 12 criticism

It’s nothing to be ashamed of. The Big 12 currently looked the best conference in the country, boasting nine teams in ESPN’s latest Bracketology. The SEC had the second-most teams earn a spot in ESPN’s NCAA Tournament predictions with seven.

Despite the Big 12’s apparent success, not everybody believes the conference deserves such acclaim. Earlier this week, Clemson head coach Brad Brownell claimed the Big 12 has manipulated the NET Rankings by purposely playing weak non-conference schedules.

Moser responded to the outside noise earlier this week.

“It’s just posturing; people trying to posture their league. And why wouldn’t you? I don’t blame anybody for posturing. But just watch it on TV, live through it. I mean, you just see it; the numbers don’t lie. Look at all the nonconference numbers,” Moser said.

“So I don’t blame any league for posturing trying to do it. Hey, we’re all trying to posture to get into this tournament. But your eyes don’t lie; the numbers don’t lie. It’s not even close. This league is unbelievable. Night in and night out, venues, everything — what happens is we go through it [and] you start beating each other up. And that’s when the posturing comes in.”