Three keys to victory: Iowa State (Big 12)

Iowa State and Kansas will meet in the semifinals of the Big 12 tournament tonight. It’ll feel like another Big 12 championship game for both teams and the atmosphere in the Sprint Center will be top notch as Jayhawk and Cyclone fans will pack the house.

Here are the three keys to the game:

1. Stopping the big three – Kansas won on Thursday by stopping Oklahoma State’s big three. I believe Iowa State’s big three is a step up from Marcus Smart and Co. Kane, Niang and Ejim combined for 53 of the Cyclones’ 91 points on Thursday and five Iowa State players had double digits. Wiggins, Selden and Tharpe need to be on top of their games defensively for KU to win tonight. It wouldn’t hurt for Jamari Traylor and Tarik Black to repeat their performances from yesterday, as well.
2. First shot defense/Rebounding – In KU’s two wins against Iowa State this year, KU was able to neutralize Iowa State’s three-point shooting by getting rebounds on misses. And the Cyclones missed a lot of threes (14-for-51). KU had a combined +27 rebounding advantage in the first two games. Kansas must defend the perimeter to hold ISU under 35 percent shooting from three and rebound. I think Iowa State had trouble rebounding against Kansas because they were so concerned about KU getting into transition that they sent people back on defense immediately after chucking up a three. If this continues to happen, KU will win for the third time this year against ISU.
3. Perry Ellis/Naadir Tharpe – Perry Ellis needs to be KU’s third best scorer. Without Embiid, Kansas needs Wiggins, Selden and Ellis to be KU’s best scorers. These teams haven’t played each other since the end of January and both teams are on different levels since then. KU can’t rely on Wiggins to always up put up 30+ points.Additionally, Naadir Tharpe has been huge in both games against the Cyclones. In the first game, Tharpe had 23 points and six assists. In the second matchup, Tharpe had 12 points and 12 dimes with just one turnover. If KU gets either one of those performances tonight, they’ll win. Which Tharpe will show up?