WILLIAMS BLOG: Scouting Lamar & other hoops jottings

With all due respect to the Lamar Cardinals (2-4) of the Southland Conference, tonight’s 7 o’clock tip should result in a bloodbath.

Coming off of an eye-opening loss to Maryland last week, Fred Hoiberg’s Cyclones (3-1) should be as focused as ever and out to prove a point. A point that they aren’t the team that we all saw last week down in Kansas City.

Iowa State’s problem so far this season has been more than just a Kansas City problem though. Combine this team’s first four games and it has played one clean half of ball (second half vs. Georgia State). Perhaps you could throw the second half against Alabama into the equation too.

Regardless, the word around Ames is that the Maryland loss indeed acted as a bit of a wake-up call for a talented group of Cyclones.

Tonight, Iowa State will have an opportunity to get things back on the right track against a team that is currently ranked 326th nationally in rebounding and 293rd in points per game.

In a season opening 93-54 loss at SMU, Lamar allowed the Mustangs to shoot 61.1 percent from the field while going 31.4 percent on its own.

On Monday, Fred Hoiberg referenced Lamar being “in the game late” at Indiana on Nov. 22. This is true, but that’s the same Indiana team that recently lost to Eastern Washington at home.

Lamar’s two wins were over an NAIA school, LSU-Alexandria (78-75) and Arkansas State (63-58).

MORE ON TONIGHT & OTHER HOOPS JOTTINGS

*** As of publishing time for this blog, no point spread existed for tonight’s game, however KenPom.com likes Iowa State by an 83-59 final.

*** Tyran de Lattibeaudiere, a 6-6 senior from Jamaica, has led Lamar in scoring for five straight games. He’s averaging 13.2 points per contest.

*** I won’t get too much into Arkansas because we’ll have all day Wednesday and Thursday to analyze that game but Mike Anderson has a nice little squad down in the SEC. Now ranked 18th nationally, the Razorbacks are 6-0 and most recently routed Iona 94-77. Arkansas impressively won on SMU’s home floor (78-72) on Nov. 25.

*** Consider the fact that Arkansas will be ranked when Iowa State meets them to be a blessing. Heading into the season, Iowa State’s non-conference schedule lacked punch but with the Razorbacks being ranked and Maryland coming on strong, the pre-Big 12 slate looks much better than it did in October. 

*** Speaking of Maryland, since playing Iowa State, the Terps have beaten Monmouth (61-56) and VMI (95-77). Maryland is now ranked 21st and 22nd in the major polls. 

*** Baylor was the only Big 12 team in action Monday night. The Bears improved to 6-1 (only loss was to Illinois) defeated Texas Southern 75-49. In addition to Iowa State/Lamar, Kansas State will host Omaha this evening while Texas will host Texas-Arlington.