Few teams hope this is still 2025 as much as Iowa State.
The 19th-ranked Cyclones fell to Oklahoma State 86-58 on Sunday to remain winless in the new year. It was their fifth straight loss, coming off a record 14-0 start to the season. The loss was their biggest loss of the season and the worst performance by the offense.
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The Cyclones (14-5, 2-5 Big 12) are nowhere close to righting their battered ship. Their chances of playing in the Big 12 are waning, and their non-conference roster ranking at No. 226 won’t do anything to help their recovery come March. Audi Crooks, the nation’s No. 1 scorer and a strong player of the year contender, bore the brunt of the fall.
It’s been two weeks since junior Addy Brown scored a goal in a 72-70 loss to Baylor on Jan. 4. She hasn’t played since, and the school announced last week that she will be out “indefinitely” with a lower back injury. Brown is the team’s second-leading scorer (13.1 points per game), top rebounder (9 rebounds per game) and second-highest assister (5.8 assists per game). The versatile forward is in her third season playing alongside Crooks. They were a 1-2 team every season.
They also lost third-year starter Arianna Jackson, who suffered a knee injury in the loss to Cincinnati. Head coach Bill Fennelly said she is expected to be out “for some time.” The players are right in saying that because of the absence, they will be better when they come back at full strength, but only if they can come back with a cushion to settle in. Or not at all.
The Audi Crooks and Iowa State Cyclones are winless in 2026. (Photo by Andrew Weavers/Getty Images)
(Andrew Weavers via Getty Images)
After praising her team’s ability to play a full 40 minutes for the first time this season, Oklahoma State head coach Jesse Hoyt noted in her opening remarks how difficult it is to endure multiple key injuries. The Cowgirls (16-4, 5-2) dealt with this issue a few years ago. Instruct for long enough and it will happen to varying degrees.
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That doesn’t excuse Iowa State. Next Player – This is that phrase when a key contributor is relegated to the bench. This needs to be figured out quickly.
The Cyclones are 2-5 in the Big 12 and have yet to face two of the three one-loss teams in the conference. Their decline began with a two-point loss to then-No. 22 Baylor, but they previously ranked No. 17 Texas Tech on Jan. 28 and No. 10 Texas Tech on Feb. 22.
Without Brown, the ball sticks together (a season-low assist count in three of the last four games) and the offense is sluggish. Crooks has to bear the brunt of the work, with the Cyclones struggling to get to her and the defense closing in on her. Who can feed Crooks? Who can create space for her? Who can rotate the help defense so Crooks doesn’t get pulled out of the paint and Baylor burns her on the play to win the game?
Crooks has posted season-low points in the past two losses, and her efficiency numbers have been shockingly mediocre given her previous Division I-leading field goal percentage of over 70 percent. Crooks, who had a habit of averaging over a point per game on a nightly basis (having averaged over 1.5 points per game three times), fell to 0.75 against Oklahoma State.
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Three of her four games were losses, scoring less than a point each. These days, she encounters a lot of bodies and a lot of hands around the rim. She scored 15 points against Oklahoma State on 6-for-14 shooting, marking her fifth straight game with fewer than 26 points and the third straight game with less than 70 points.
Before the loss, Crooks had scored less than 26 points in five such games. Everything is done within a limited time frame and is almost always a blast.
“I don’t know of any player in the country that more people have taken the time to prepare for,” Hoyt said. “You play in the back. [her]you play in front, you double-team, there are a lot of different ways to attack it and hope it works.
“You can’t beat a company like Audi without relying on the whole team. At least in our lineup.”
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Audi can’t win without a full team around them, injury or not.
Performance of the week: Imari Berry, Louisville
Imari Berry scored a career-high 33 points to help Louisville remain undefeated with an 8-0 victory over North Carolina State in ACC action on Sunday. She averaged 10.3 points in the second half, three times her scoring average, including 12 points in the third game.
The sophomore guard pulled the Cardinals within two with a 3-pointer and tied the game with a free throw with 10 seconds left. She also scored the first goal in overtime. Berry made 14 of 23 shots, including 3 of 5 three-pointers, had 12 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 assists, and suffered 4 fouls in most of the fourth quarter and overtime.
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Honorable Mention: Marta Suarez lifts TCU over West Virginia. South Carolina senior center Medina Okote will be in action against Texas on Thursday.
This week’s statistics: 6 out of 368
Last week’s game between Texas and South Carolina was their sixth meeting in 368 days, the shortest span of any team in the NCAA era (1972). Each game is a clash of the top five teams ranked by the AP. South Carolina defeated Columbia 68-65 on Thursday and is now 4-2. Texas led for most of the game and had a similar situation in its loss to LSU when another starter got into foul trouble. Senior guard Raven Johnson expertly led the Gamecocks, scoring or assisting 12 of the final 20 points.
Game of the week: Vanderbilt vs. South Carolina, Sunday, 3pm ET, live on ESPN
Heavyweights battle it out every week in the SEC, with Vanderbilt’s trip to South Carolina the latest reported. The Gamecocks have a tighter defense than Vanderbilt, and they can take advantage of the smaller Commodores on the boards. South Carolina ranks sixth in rebounding average (58.1%). Their rebounding advantage in SEC play is 7.6, which is better than Vanderbilt’s 0.5, which is second-worst in the league. Both are undefeated in conference play, with only Tennessee joining them.
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Yahoo Sports AP Top 25 Poll
1. University of Connecticut
2. South Carolina
3. Texas
4. University of California, Los Angeles
5. Vanderbilt
6. Louisiana State University
7. Michigan
8. Louisville
9. Iowa
10. Baylor
11.Kentucky
12. Oklahoma
13. Traffic control unit
14. Ohio State University
15. Michigan State University
16. Maryland
17. Tennessee
18. Princeton University
19. Duke University
20. West Virginia
21.Nebraska
22. Texas Tech University
23. Illinois
24. Notre Dame Cathedral
25. Washington
Official AP Top 25
1. University of Connecticut
2. South Carolina
3. University of California, Los Angeles
4. Texas
5. Vanderbilt
6. Louisiana State University
7. Michigan
8. Louisville
9. TCU
10. Iowa
11.Kentucky
12. Ohio State University
13. Michigan State University
14. Baylor
15. Maryland
16. Oklahoma
17. Tennessee
18. Ole Miss
19. Texas Tech University
20.Princeton University
21.Duke University
22. West Virginia
23.Alabama
24.Nebraska
25. Washington
