Ohio State 78, Iowa State 75. ISU had a 13-point comeback and played the entire second half without Chris Babb.
I know games like this don’t happen just to Iowa State, but they always happen to Iowa State. Tomorrow is the anniversary of the Michigan State game and the blarge. Tom Izzo has acknowledged that game as being the de facto championship in the 2000 tournament.
UPDATE: Nominee for the most ill-timed sports tweet of the year, and the follow-up three minutes later:
Mike Hlas @Hlas
Iowa State cannot say the officiating hurt it today.
OK, for 38.5 minutes Iowa State cannot say officiating hurt it today.
This writeup from Rush the Court is a good exploration of the “big picture implications” of the loss on the ISU program.
In the end, a team predicted to finish eighth in the Big 12 finished fifth and then took the second-place team in the Big Ten down to the wire. ISU was one of the 32 best teams in the country, and we can be proud of that much.