Arizona-Iowa State scouting report: On Hilton South and (maybe) slippery glass

No. 1 seed Arizona (30-2) vs No. 5 seed Iowa State (27-6)

• Big 12 Tournament semifinals * T-Mobile Center, Kansas City * 4 p.m., Thursday • ESPN or ESPN2 • 1290-AM

ARIZONA

Probable starters

0 Jaden Bradley G 6-3 senior

5 Brayden Burries G 6-4 freshman

18 Ivan Kharchenkov F 6-7 freshman

10 Koa Peat F 6-8 freshman

13 Motiejus Krivas C 7-2 junior

Key reserves

30 Tobe Awaka F 6-8 senior

3 Anthony Dell’Orso F 6-6 senior

2 Dwayne Aristode F 6-8 freshman

IOWA STATE

Probable starters

5 Joshua Jefferson F 6-9 senior

22 Milan Momcilovic F 6-8 junior

3 Tamin Lipsey G 6-1 senior

27 Killyan Toure 6-3 freshman

23 Blake Buchanon C 6-10 junior

Key reserves

1 Jamarion Batemon G 6-3 freshman

21 Dominykas Pleta C 6-11 freshman

0 Nate Heise G 6-5 senior

HOW THEY MATCH UP

How they got here: Arizona went 16-2 to win the Big 12 regular-season title and earn the No. 1 Big 12 Tournament seed, then beat UCF 81-59 in a quarterfinal game Thursday.

Iowa State went 12-6 to finish in a three-way tie with Kansas and Texas Tech for third place in the Big 12 but received only the No. 5 seed because it had only a 1-2 record against the other tied teams (it lost to Texas Tech and was 1-1 against Kansas). The Cyclones drummed ASU 91-42 in a second-round game, then came back from an early 12-point deficit to beat Texas Tech 75-53 in a qusrterfinal game Thursday to avenge its 82-73 loss to the Red Raiders on Feb. 28 in Ames, Iowa.

This season: The Wildcats enjoyed a memorable Senior Night at McKale on March 2, when seniors led them to a 73-57 win over Iowa State that clinched the Big 12 regular-season title. Of the seniors, guard Jaden Bradley had 17 points while hitting 9 of 10 free throws, forward Tobe Awaka had 10 points and 15 rebounds while wing Anthony Dell’Orso had eight points and four assists while hitting 2 of 5 3-pointers.

Series history: Arizona leads the alltime series 6-4 and is 2-1 against the Cyclones in Big 12 play. Last season, Caleb Love’s 60-foot buzzer beater at the end of regulation and subsequent overtime heroics led the Wildcats to an 86-75 win over the Cyclones at McKale Center on Jan. 27, but Iowa State avenged that game with an 84-67 win in Ames on March 1.

What’s new with the Cyclones: After losing to Arizona, the Cyclones returned home to beat ASU 82-73 while seniors Tamin Lipsey and forward Joshua Jefferson enjoyed their sendoffs: Lipsey had 16 points, six rebounds and six assists, while Jeffersojn had 16 points, seven rebounds and three assists.

Four days later, Iowa State played ASU again and crushed the Sun Devils this time, winning 91-42 in the Big 12 Tournament. They then before pulled away from Texas Tech to beat the Red Raiders in front of a rowdy Cyclone-heavy crowd at T-Mobile Center

Iowa State ranks fifth nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency, keeping opponents to just 92.0 points per 100 possessions. It ranks fourth in defensive turnover percentage – swiping the ball away on 22.7% of opponents’ possessions.

While Iowa State hasn’t changed its rotation, Jefferson banged a knee against ASU and briefly appeared to hurt it again against Texas Tech.

Key players

Iowa State – Joshua Jefferson

One reason the Wildcats beat Iowa State on March 2 was that Jefferson was held to 12 points on 2-for-12 shooting. That just doesn’t happen very often. Jefferson is the No. 2 rated player nationally in Kenpom’s overall player of the year rankings.

Arizona – Ivan Kharchenkov

The German/Russian freshman picked up even more defensive cred when he played a role in keeping Jefferson and 6-8 Iowa State sharpshooter Milan Momcilovic under their averages at McKale Center. Ten days later, he’ll likely be asked to do it again.

SIDELINES

Wiping the glass

Before Brayden Burries even hit the Big 12 Tournament’s glass floor Thursday, Texas Tech guard Christian Anderson had slipped and strained a muscle in an earlier game.

Before the Wildcats played, Burries even changed into old shoes in order to get a better feel, and still slipped notably after a layup himself.

That was life on day three of the tournament’s new LED-backlit glass floor, which has drawn mixed reviews both for looks and for safety. Several players have said it has more bounce than a wood floor but more are saying it is slippery than those who say it isn’t.

“Obviously, the floor is a bit slippery,” Anderson said later, according to the Kansas City Star. “I just kind of misstepped or did a move that caused me to slip and kind of ended up in an unnatural position.”

But ultimately, no Wildcats were hurt and Burries said, after getting used to it during warmups, the only time that it bothered him was when he shot free throws.

“If you're shooting a free throw and you're on the other side, the LED lights get in your eyes a little bit,” Burries said. “But ain't no big deal, really.”

UA forward Ivan Kharchenkov, who played on a similar glass floor last season for Bayern Munich, said he actually felt the floor was safer because logos and graphics were in lights, not stickers.

“Back in Germany, we have a lot of stickers on hardwood floors. It’s slippery," Kharchenkov said. "I don’t know if it’s a European thing or whatever, but stickers are horrible. They just don't have the grip. You slide above the sticker, and then you get traction with the floor again. It's really dangerous.”

Hilton South

When discussing Friday's Arizona-Iowa State matchup, Big 12-focused ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla said no fan base has been crazier inside the T-Mobile Center than Iowa State’s.

Yep, even more so than the fans from Kansas, who are famously known for their legendary noise at Allen Fieldhouse, just about an hour to the west.

“It will be a home game for Iowa State,” Fraschilla said of Friday’s game.

Certainly, Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger is hoping so. His team didn’t get a chance to host Arizona at Hilton Coliseum this season but now it will get a chance to in what’s known as “Hilton South.”

“I can't say enough how excited I am for our fan base to show up for us tomorrow,” Otzelberger said. “To have our fans have the opportunity to drive over tonight, drive over in the morning, and have a great turnout there will give our guys tremendous energy.”

Long week

There may be no better way to explain how dififcult the Big 12 Tournament is than to note that Iowa State was playing on Wednseday. 

That’s right: Even though they are ranked No. 7 in the Associated Press Top 25 and in line for a No. 2 or 3 NCAA Tournament seed, the Cyclones were only the Big 12 Tournament’s No. 5 seed thanks to tiebreakers in the three-way tie for third place they finished in.

But Otzelberger didn’t play any of his starters beyond 30 minutes on Wednseday in a blowout win over ASU and Iowa State pulled away from Texas Tech enough that only Jefferson (33 minutes) played more than 31 on Thursday.

Besides, Otzelberger said, the Cyclones are good at taking care of themselves, having gone through three games in three days at the Players Era Festival in November -- and in seizing the moment.

“Look, it's March,” Otzerlberger said. “I think for these guys and for everybody in our locker room, you do all the hard work every single day from whatever age you are when you start playing this game, and you dream about having the opportunity to be playing such meaningful games in March, and how special that truly is.

“I want our guys to be in the moment. I want our guys to absorb all of it, soak it all in. They've done the hard work, so that work will show up for you in the moment if you continue to keep your mental focus. And these guys have a great focus.”

Numbers game

2 – Milan Milanovic’s national ranking in 3-point shooting percentage (49.2), even though he was just 1 of 5 at McKale Center from beyond the arc.

11- Iowa State’s national ranking in Division I experience (2.56 years), a Kenpom metric of average number of full D-1 seasons played by the current roster, weighted by minutes played.

228 – Miles between Iowa State’s Hilton Coliseum and what Iowa State fans call “Hilton South” (Kansas City’s T-Mobile Center), a mostly straight shot on Interstate 35.

-- Bruce Pascoe