Peterson: Iowa State basketball playing in Big 12 dog park full of pit bulls

AMES – This story, from one of the nation’s best college basketball coaches, pretty much sums up the gauntlet Iowa State’s men’s team faces this season – and in particular, on Tuesday night.

It’s from Houston’s Kelvin Sampson, on the podium this past October at his first Big 12 media days appearance since coaching at Oklahoma in the mid-1990s and early 2000s. His second-ranked Cougars that play at Hilton Coliseum at 6 p.m. Tuesday (ESPN2) are one of four conference newcomers, and two of them are among Big 12 teams in this week’s national coaches’ poll.

Sampson’s team, by the way, is the nation’s only Division I unbeaten. Here’s the story:

“We had a head coaches' meeting a while ago,” Sampson told assembled Big 12 and national reporters in Kansas City. “It’s kind of like in a dog park. You've got two dogs walking by each other, they kind of side-eye, as the little one starts yapping at the big one. They start sizing each other up − I was kind of sizing (the Big 12) all up.

“It used to be, you could look at a few of those little dogs and go, 'I can get that one, I can get that one, I can get that one.'"

That’s changed. Pardon the cliché, but anyone can beat anyone, and they can do it anywhere.

How about last Saturday’s first round of this grind-it-out, 18-game, Big 12 schedule everyone faces? Unranked Texas Tech winning by 11 points at 22nd-ranked Texas. Really?

Really.

No. 18 Baylor going into overtime before winning at unranked Oklahoma State. Really?

Really.

More: Iowa State basketball loses Big 12 opener to No. 11 Oklahoma

“I ain't seen nobody I can get in this conference,” said Sampson, continuing my recollection of his dogs-at-the-park story. “That's the difference. They're all German Shepherds, man. Where's the Shih Tzus? Where's the Chihuahuas at? Oh, that's a Rottweiler. Oh my God, that's a pit bull.

“This is a tough dog park, man.”

You better believe it is.

Houston entered Monday No. 1 in the NET rankings. BYU, despite losing at home Saturday against Cincinnati, was fourth. Kansas, which held on to beat TCU at Allen Fieldhouse, was No. 11, and Iowa State checked in at 12.

“Like we all know, it’s the best league in the country,” Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger said Monday. “You see across the board, anybody can win on a given night.”

Otzelberger’s team darn near won at then-No. 11 Oklahoma on Saturday, leading by a point with 4 minutes 10 seconds left. The Cyclones missed seven of their next nine shots before losing 71-63. That victory was for the taking had Iowa State played better down the stretch.

First-weekend takeaways?

“As you look at the first week in the Big 12, you’re going to say it’s a really good league, and you better be ready to play,” Otzelberger said Monday. “There were some games that were won by a wide margin, a lot of games that we were close, and you know every night out you’d better be at your best, because if you’re not you’re going to be in a bad spot.”

Iowa State hasn’t played consecutive opponents in the top 11 of the weekly coaches’ poll since losing against No. 2 Kansas and beating seventh-ranked Texas last season.

“The Big 12 is so good because there’s high-level players on every team,” Cyclones guard Curtis Jones said. “High-level coaching. Every program is high level.”

More: Peterson: Iowa State's basketball NET ranking meets reality once Big 12 play starts

Sampson’s team will be the highest-ranked team to play at Hilton Coliseum since top-ranked Baylor’s 77-72 win on New Year’s Day 2022.

“There’s nothing really lacking,” Iowa State veteran Tre King said when asked about the Big 12’s strength and depth. “From top to bottom, the physicality of the game and the speed of the game – it’s the highest level of basketball below the NBA, in my opinion. It’s going to be a battle every single game.

“Me and Rob (Jones) talked to the guys about that, leading up to the Big 12 part of our schedule – that every team is going to have a couple losing streaks and adversity. That’s not the time to deviate and point fingers. That’s the time you come together and trust the process.”

Because the veterans know the Chihuahua opponents that formed much of the 11-2 non-conference start have been replaced by a never-ending parade of hungry pit bulls – just waiting to feast on every loose ball and every turnover, regardless of whose dog park they’re terrorizing.

Iowa State columnist Randy Peterson is in his 51st year writing sports for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at rpeterson@dmreg.com, on X @RandyPete, and at DesMoinesRegister.com/CyclonesTexts

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Peterson: Iowa State basketball team set to face No. 2 Houston