There's little disagreement that when Iowa State plays well, it's as good as any team in the Big 12 and a threat to any other team in the country.
But can the Cyclones do it more than once in a row?
ISU dismantled Baylor, 83-66, Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament in Kansas City. The lopsided win avenged two regular-season losses to the Bears and advanced 5th-seed I-State into the tourney semifinals on Friday night. Iowa State will play top-seeded Kansas State or TCU - the no. 8 seed - in that game.
The Cyclones are now 21-11 overall.
I-State was brilliant on offense and capable on defense in turning the tables on BU, which had won six of the previous eight meetings between the schools coming into Thursday's clash at Sprint Center.
But ISU shot over 50 percent from the field - both inside and beyond the three-point arc - while holding Baylor to 43 percent from the floor, including 36 percent from three-point range. The Cyclones finished the game at 52 percent overall and behind the three-point line.
And even though Baylor out-rebounded Iowa State in the game, the Cyclones competed on the board and limited the damage that BU did on its offensive glass. The Bears ended up collecting 40 percent of available rebounds on its end, but only converted those caroms into 14 second-chance points. For the game, I-State was -5 overall on the boards.
The Cyclones took control of the game by bracketing the half with its best basketball of the day. Iowa State outscored the Bears, 12-3, over the final 5:10 of the first half, breaking away from a 26-26 tie for a 38-29 lead at intermission.
ISU kept it going to open the second half, putting a 12-5 spurt on BU right out of the break for a 50-34 lead. Baylor got no closer than 11 points the rest of the way. And after the Bears shaved Iowa State's lead down to 53-42 with 13:30 left in the game, the Cyclones responded with a 9-2 run for a 62-44 lead at the 10:45 mark.
Iowa State took a timeout with 9:18 left in the game after Baylor pulled within 13 at 62-49. Again ISU had the answer, scoring five straight points to build the lead back to 18 at 67-49 with under eight minutes to play.
The Cyclones' biggest lead was 22 points at 83-61 after Tyrese Haliburton buried a three-point shot from even with the mid-court logo some 35 feet from the basket.
Iowa State had four scorers in double figures led by Talen Horton-Tucker's 21 points - 16 of which came in the first half. Marial Shayok scored 18 - with 13 coming in the second half - while Lindell Wigginton added 16 and Haliburton 13.