College basketball rankings: No. 2 Iowa State rolls past No. 12 Kansas as Curtis Jones continues breakout run

Posted by Admin January 16, 2025 Basketball

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Some players are more comfortable coming off of the bench than they are starting. Often, the opposite is true. For Curtis Jones, it doesn’t seem to matter. Wednesday night provided the latest reminder.

Final score: Iowa State 74, Kansas 57.

Jones, the senior guard who transferred from Buffalo in advance of last season, started for just the third time at Iowa State, took 17 shots, made nine of them and finished with 25 points in a 74-57 win over Kansas. Four days earlier, Jones came off of the bench, like he usually does, took 15 shots, made eight of them and finished with 26 points in an 85-84 win at Texas Tech.

Jones is averaging 24.7 points in ISU’s past three games.

“Repeating myself each week, but Curtis Jones is one of the most improved players I’ve covered in the Big 12 in 22 years,” ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla posted to social media on Wednesday. “He will be first team all-league and make a run at All-American teams.”

Jones is now averaging 17.8 points and 4.0 rebounds while shooting 41.4% from 3-point range on 6.9 attempts per game after averaging just 2.5 points per contest as a freshman at Buffalo. That makes him, like Fraschilla said, undeniably improved — plus the leading scorer for an Iowa State team that’s 15-1 and No. 2 in Thursday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings.

Iowa State’s only loss?

That came in November to Auburn — the team that’s No. 1 in the Top 25 And 1 for the ninth consecutive morning. So, nearly 11 full weeks into this season, it’s inarguable that TJ Otzelberger, for the second straight year, has a legitimate Final Four contender. The Cyclones are elite offensively, even better defensively and nothing worse than solid in basically every aspect of the game. They’re an awesome team that will be tested with four games over the next 12 days, three of which will be on the road against opponents ranked in the top 80 at EvanMiya.com.

Iowa State won’t pass Auburn in the rankings the Tigers lose, I don’t think. But any argument in favor of the Cyclones being or becoming the sport’s best team shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand.