No. 4 Iowa State overcame 30 first half points from Jarrod Uthoff, a 20 point second half deficit and a 82-74 deficit with two minutes left to beat arch-rival Iowa at Hilton Coliseum, 83-82.
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However, all the fun typically goes out the window the moment someone-who’s simply in the area doing their job, no less-reportedly suffers a compound fracture in their leg. There’s a unsafe side to storming the court and now Iowa State may have to deal with the very real possibility that Peterson takes some sort of legal action.
Put another way, are there any Iowa fans that expected anything other than their hearts getting ripped out on Thursday night? “Those college kids… they’ve been camping out here [for tickets] for three days”.
Iowa State forward Georges Niang celebrates with teammate Jameel McKay, left, after an NCAA college basketball game against Iowa, Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015, in Ames, Iowa. “Coach (Steve) Prohm and I went out to talk to him and tried to comfort him”.
As ugly as the first half was for Iowa State, the second half completely made up for it. The Cyclones showed they could learn from their mistakes, play better defense, create better ball movement and take better shots on offense, and play with intensity even when the situation seemed insurmountable.
“It appeared to be a significant leg break”, Pollard said. “I think they’ve probably been looking at it for a while”.
Following the incident, Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby announced that programs will be punished for allowing its fans to storm the court. His shots galvanized the team and the home crowd at moments when it looked like Iowa State was ready to fold, and all of this was coming off the bench. “And we have pretty good video evidence of all our big events so we can review them”.
However, there is some credence to debating the practicality of court storming when it comes to safety issues.
This was Iowa State’s first major test in a season that promises to be full of them.
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Peterson will miss Sunday’s Iowa State-Arkansas-Pine Bluff game, but he hopes to return in time for a December 19 matchup between the Cyclones and Northern Iowa in Des Moines, just blocks from his hospital bed.
