Few teams wish it were still 2025 as much as Iowa State.
The previously No. 19-ranked Cyclones remain winless in the new year after an 86-58 loss to Oklahoma State on Sunday. It was their fifth consecutive loss, a brutal skid on the heels of a program-record 14-0 start to the season. The loss was their largest of the season and the offense’s worst output.
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The Cyclones (14-5, 2-5 Big 12) aren’t any closer to righting the ship marred by major injuries. Their chances in the Big 12 race are fading, and their non-conference slate, ranked 226th, won’t help their resume come March. Audi Crooks, the nation’s leading scorer in Division I and a National Player of the Year contender, is feeling the brunt of the fall.
It’s been two weeks since junior Addy Brown scored a single bucket in a 72-70 loss to Baylor on Jan. 4. She hasn’t played since, and the school announced last week she would 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-best in assists (5.8 assists per game). The versatile forward is in her third season playing alongside Crooks; they’ve been the team’s 1-2 punch every season.
They’re also without third-year starter Arianna Jackson, who sustained a knee injury in the loss to Cincinnati. Head coach Bill Fennelly said the expectation is she’ll be out “a while.” Players are saying the right thing, that they’ll be better when they’re back at full strength because of the absences, but that’s only if they come back with a cushion to settle in. Or at all.
Audi Crooks and the Iowa State Cyclones are winless in 2026. (Photo by Andrew Wevers/Getty Images)
(Andrew Wevers via Getty Images)
Oklahoma State head coach Jacie Hoyt, after praising her team’s ability to put together a full 40-minute effort for the first time this season, noted in her opening remarks how difficult it is to endure multiple key injuries. The Cowgirls (16-4, 5-2) dealt with it a couple of years ago. Coach long enough, and it’ll happen to varying degrees.
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It can’t be an excuse for Iowa State. Next player up — that’s the line of the day when a key contributor is relegated to the bench. That needs to figure itself out fast.
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 skid began with that two-point loss to then-No. 22 Baylor, but they still have previously ranked No. 17 Texas Tech on Jan. 28 and No. 10 TCU on Feb. 22.
Without Brown, the ball is sticking (season lows in assists in three of their last four games) and the offense is sluggish. Crooks has to carry the brunt of the work, and the Cyclones are struggling to reach her while defenses pack in on her. Who can feed Crooks? Who can create space for her? Who can rotate into help defense so Crooks isn’t pulled out of the paint, where she was burned by Baylor for the game-winner?
Crooks put up season lows in points the past two losses and shockingly mediocre efficiency numbers given her previously Division I-leading clip north of 70% from the field. Accustomed to averaging more than one point per play on a nightly basis (and better than 1.5 points per play three times), Crooks sank to .75 against Oklahoma State.
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Three of her four games scoring fewer than one point per play came in the losing skid. She’s met at the rim these days by multiple bodies and a flood of hands. She scored 15 against Oklahoma State, shooting 6-of-14, a continuation of five games scoring less than 26, and by extension, the team’s third straight game scoring 70 or fewer.
Crooks had five such games sitting below 26 before the losing skid. All came in limited minutes and almost exclusively in blowouts.
“I don’t know that there’s a player in the country that more people spend time preparing for,” Hoyt said. “You play behind [her], you play in front, you double team, there’s just so many different ways that you can attack it and pray that it works.
“You’re not going to beat someone like Audi without relying on your whole team. At least with our roster.”
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And Audi can’t win without a full team around her, injuries or not.
Performance of the week: Imari Berry, Louisville
Imari Berry’s career-high 33 points helped deliver Louisville a key win over N.C. State, 88-80, in overtime on Sunday to remain undefeated in ACC play (8-0). She tripled her scoring average of 10.3 points per game with a monster second half, including 12 in the third.
The sophomore guard forced overtime with a 3-pointer that pulled the Cardinals within two, and free throws that tied it with 10 seconds remaining. She also scored the opening bucket of the extra period. Berry was 14-of-23, including 3-of-5 from 3-point range, with 12 rebounds, three steals, two assists and playing on four fouls most of the fourth quarter and overtime.
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Honorary mentions: Marta Suarez’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer lifted TCU over West Virginia. South Carolina senior center Madina Okot drained the third 3-pointer of her collegiate career to defeat Texas on Thursday.
Stat of the week: 6 in 368
The Texas-South Carolina game last week was their sixth meeting in 368 days, the shortest span of any teams in the NCAA era (1972). Every single matchup was a meeting of AP top-five-ranked teams. South Carolina is 4-2 in the stretch after its 68-65 win in Columbia on Thursday. Texas, which led most of the game, had another starter in foul trouble after a similar situation in the loss to LSU. Senior guard Raven Johnson expertly led the Gamecocks, scoring or assisting on 12 of their final 20 points.
Game of the week: Vanderbilt at South Carolina, Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on ESPN
Heavyweights are duking it out weekly in the SEC, and the latest features Vanderbilt’s trip to South Carolina. The Gamecocks’ defense is tighter than Vanderbilt and they can exploit the smaller Commodores on the boards. South Carolina averages a sixth-best rebound rate (58.1%). Their 7.6 rebounding margin in SEC play outpaces Vanderbilt’s 0.5, the second-worst in the league. Both are undefeated in the conference, joined only by Tennessee.
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Yahoo Sports’ AP Top 25 ballot
1. UConn
2. South Carolina
3. Texas
4. UCLA
5. Vanderbilt
6. LSU
7. Michigan
8. Louisville
9. Iowa
10. Baylor
11. Kentucky
12. Oklahoma
13. TCU
14. Ohio State
15. Michigan State
16. Maryland
17. Tennessee
18. Princeton
19. Duke
20. West Virginia
21. Nebraska
22. Texas Tech
23. Illinois
24. Notre Dame
25. Washington
Official AP Top 25
1. UConn
2. South Carolina
3. UCLA
4. Texas
5. Vanderbilt
6. LSU
7. Michigan
8. Louisville
9. TCU
10. Iowa
11. Kentucky
12. Ohio State
13. Michigan State
14. Baylor
15. Maryland
16. Oklahoma
17. Tennessee
18. Ole Miss
19. Texas Tech
20. Princeton
21. Duke
22. West Virginia
23. Alabama
24. Nebraska
25. Washington
