This was not your typical Iowa State win, at least in my experience. I keep track of this stat and it usually holds true in every game that the team that wins this stat wins the game. Usually, when we win, and I think when most teams win, they have a big advantage in assists. Sharing the ball, team play makes the world go round. Tonight, that was not the case. Up until about 7 or 8 minutes left in the game, we had 5 assists. We wound up with 11 assists for the game, compared to 18 for Utah. If those numbers were reversed, with the winning team having more than the loser, it would be more in line with what I'm used to seeing in a box score.
It seemed like we were not playing team ball for most of the game, hence the struggle tonight to put away a very mediocre team. The good news is, we are so good, it didn't matter a lick in the end, Our guys were better than theirs. The bad news is, this can't become a trend, especially when we play better teams and when we get into tournament time. I'm no expert, but again, this is the one stat in basketball I keep an eye on. If I haven't watched the game and see a box score, it's the first stat I go to if we lost and it usually shows that we didn't share the ball well.
