College basketball rankings: After struggling recently, Joshua Jefferson carries Iowa State over UCF
The Cyclones are No. 11 in the Top 25 And 1 after snapping their two-game losing streak
By
Gary Parrish
•
2 min read
There are a number of reasons why Iowa State went from 16-0 to 16-2 last week -- most of them on the defensive end of the court. But somewhere on the list of things that took a dip was also Joshua Jefferson.
In the loss at Kansas, he was 4 of 14 from the field. In the loss at Cincinnati, he was 4 of 12 from the field. Those performances doubled as two of his four worst shooting efforts of the season. So I was eager to see how Jefferson would respond when Iowa State returned home for the first time in 10 days to host UCF inside Hilton Coliseum on CBS Sports Network.
If you watched Tuesday night, you know he was great.
Final score: Iowa State 87, UCF 57
Jefferson took 11 shots, made six of them and finished with 17 points, 12 assists, 10 rebounds and zero turnovers in 34 minutes. That stat-line represented the 6-foot-9 senior's second triple-double of the season and thus made him the first Iowa State player to ever record multiple triple-doubles in the same season.
"I'd say, defensively, he had an edge to how he played, right?" said Iowa State coach TJ Otzelberger. "Like he was really helping pressure and getting turnovers, and then for him, we've got to do the best job we can trying to [get into the] open the court. But when he can get a dunk in transition, and he can get a finish where the whole defense isn't loaded up, that's going to build his confidence. I think he earned that on the defensive end. And then he took a leadership position in terms of, we're going to move the ball, we're going to share the ball, we're going to keep it on the move. And, I mean, to have 12 assists and no turnovers, I mean, that's ridiculous. And not to mention the rebounds and the points. So, I'm just proud of his ability mentally to lock in on the things that are important for us to be successful, and now we just gotta work together and maintain that every night out."
Iowa State is No. 11 in Wednesday morning's updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings, where Arizona remains No. 1 for the 11th consecutive day. The only new addition to the Top 25 And 1 is Miami (Ohio), which won 107-101 on Tuesday to improve to 20-0 on the season.
The Redhawks are now 26th in the Top 25 And 1.
Is Miami really the 26th-best team in the sport? Man, who knows? And I know the Redhawks haven't played the toughest schedule -- but that's at least partly because they had a hard time scheduling non-league games because everybody assumed they'd be good. Either way, 20-0 against their schedule to date is still undeniably impressive -- and one way to illustrate that is to highlight that Miami's strength of record ranks 21st nationally.
So ... welcome to the Top 25 And 1, Redhawks! Now tell your most famous alum to stop bullying me at work, please.
Top 25 And 1 rankings
Biggest Movers
2
Kansas
4
Vanderbilt
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Jaden Bradley finished with 23 points and six rebounds in Saturday's 84-77 win at UCF. The Wildcats' next game is Wednesday against Cincinnati. | -- | 18-0 |
| 2 |  | Pryce Sandfort finished with 22 points and two rebounds in Saturday's 77-58 win at Northwestern. The Cornhuskers' next game is Wednesday against Washington. | -- | 18-0 |
| 3 |  | Tarris Reed Jr. finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds in Saturday's 64-62 win at Georgetown. The Huskies' next game is Saturday against Villanova. | -- | 18-1 |
| 4 |  | Cameron Boozer finished with 30 points and 14 rebounds in Saturday's 80-50 win at Stanford. The Blue Devils' next game is Saturday against Wake Forest. | -- | 17-1 |
| 5 |  | Elliott Cadeau finished with 19 points and four rebounds in Tuesday's 86-72 win over Indiana. The Wolverines' next game is Friday against Ohio State. | 1 | 17-1 |
| 6 |  | Braden Smith missed eight of the 13 shots he attempted in Tuesday's 69-67 loss at UCLA. The Boilermakers' next game is Saturday against Illinois. | 1 | 17-2 |
| 7 |  | Mario Saint-Supery finished with 20 points and four assists in Saturday's 71-50 win at Seattle. The Zags' next game is Wednesday against Pepperdine. | -- | 19-1 |
| 8 |  | Carson Cooper finished with 19 points and seven rebounds in Tuesday's 68-52 win at Oregon. The Spartans' next game is Saturday against Maryland. | -- | 17-2 |
| 9 |  | Kingston Flemings finished with 20 points and eight assists in Sunday's 103-73 win over Arizona State. The Cougars' next game is Saturday at Texas Tech. | -- | 17-1 |
| 10 |  | Richie Saunders missed eight of the 15 shots he attempted in Saturday's 84-71 loss at Texas Tech. The Cougars' next game is Saturday against Utah. | -- | 16-2 |
| 11 |  | Joshua Jefferson finished with 17 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds in Tuesday's 87-57 win over UCF. The Cyclones' next game is Saturday at Oklahoma State. | -- | 17-2 |
| 12 |  | Zvonimir Ivisic finished with 18 points and nine rebounds in Saturday's 77-67 win over Minnesota. The Illini's next game is Wednesday against Maryland. | -- | 15-3 |
| 13 |  | Christian Anderson finished with 26 points and six assists in Tuesday's 92-73 win at Baylor. The Red Raiders' next game is Saturday against Houston. | -- | 15-4 |
| 14 |  | Reuben Chinyelu finished with 15 points and 21 rebounds in Tuesday's 79-61 win over LSU. The Gators' next game is Saturday against Auburn. | -- | 14-5 |
| 15 |  | Malik Thomas finished with 23 points and 11 rebounds in Saturday's 72-68 win at SMU. The Cavaliers' next game is Saturday against North Carolina. | 1 | 16-2 |
| 16 |  | Melvin Council Jr. finished with 18 points and seven rebounds in Tuesday's 75-69 win at Colorado. The Jayhawks' next game is Saturday at Kansas State. | 2 | 14-5 |
| 17 |  | Labaron Philon Jr. finished with 23 points and five rebounds in Saturday's 83-81 win at Oklahoma. The Crimson Tide's next game is Saturday against Tennessee. | 2 | 13-5 |
| 18 |  | Darius Acuff Jr. finished with 17 points and five assists in Tuesday's 93-68 win over Vanderbilt. The Razorbacks' next game is Saturday against LSU. | 2 | 14-5 |
| 19 |  | Duke Miles missed six of the seven shots he attempted in Tuesday's 93-68 loss at Arkansas. The Commodores' next game is Saturday at Mississippi State. | 4 | 16-3 |
| 20 |  | Jestin Porter missed 10 of the 13 shots he attempted in Tuesday's 80-76 overtime loss to NC State. The Tigers' next game is Saturday at Georgia Tech. | 3 | 16-4 |
| 21 |  | Ryan Conwell finished with 24 points and six assists in Saturday's 100-59 win at Pitt. The Cardinals' next game is Saturday against Virginia Tech. | -- | 13-5 |
| 22 |  | Dion Brown finished with 14 points and six rebounds in Tuesday's 91-77 win at Duquesne. The Billikens' next game is Friday at St. Bonaventure. | -- | 18-1 |
| 23 |  | Dillon Mitchell finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds in Tuesday's 65-60 win vs. Seton Hall. The Red Storm's next game is Saturday at Xavier. | -- | 14-5 |
| 24 |  | B.J. Edwards finished with 24 points and eight rebounds in Tuesday's 91-79 win at Wake Forest. The Mustangs' next game is Saturday against Florida State. | -- | 14-5 |
| 25 |  | Jeremiah Wilkinson finished with 14 points and one steal in Tuesday's 74-72 win at Missouri. The Bulldogs' next game is Saturday at Texas. | -- | 16-3 |
| 26 |  | Peter Suder finished with 27 points and 10 rebounds in Tuesday's 107-101 overtime win at Kent State. The Redhawks' next game is Tuesday against UMass. | NR | 20-0 |
