Iowa State denies spying on K-State timeout huddles during recent basketball game
Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard has responded to claims that the Cyclones were spying on the Kansas State basketball team during timeouts of a recent game at Hilton Coliseum.
“It absolutely did not happen,” Pollard told The Messenger on Saturday. “It’s a ridiculous allegation that is not fair to our coaches, our student managers and our players. I’m extremely disappointed that the Kansas State basketball staff has allowed this to fester, because it’s not right.”
The possibility of foul play was raised earlier this week when K-State head coach Jerome Tang angrily pointed into the crowd during a 78-67 loss in Ames and then followed that up with an interesting conversation with Iowa State coach TJ Otzelberger in the postgame handshake line.
It was unclear what Tang was upset about at the time, but sources later said that he was concerned that Iowa State had placed managers and/or other team representatives in spots behind the visiting bench where they could view, and possibly even record, the Wildcats as they huddled up during timeouts.
The sources said K-State’s coaches were worried about those observers quickly passing information to the Iowa State bench via text messages or other signals.
Otzelberger declined comment after the win over K-State, but he did address the claims to start his press conference following Saturday’s win over Kansas.
“It’s incredibly disappointing that after such an awesome game, an awesome environment and atmosphere, that I even have to begin by addressing something that happened earlier this week,” Otzelberger said. “Ludicrous, ludicrous rumors earlier this week that somehow we were trying to gain an advantage looking into our opponents’ huddles, (which) is an affront to our players, our fans and to me. It’s not who I am. It’s not what our program is about. And I am angry that someone would even make that suggestion.
“What is factual is one of (K-State’s) staff members cursed out one of our student managers who was mopping the floor under the basket. So let’s put this to bed here and now: It didn’t happen. It won’t happen. And others need to be much more careful with their words moving forward.”
Naturally, it was a strange situation dating back to the KSU-ISU game.
Tang was so upset about what he witnessed that he immediately walked to midcourt to inform Otzelberger of what he spotted in the crowd with 7 minutes, 51 seconds remaining in the second half. Later, when he spoke with Otzelberger in the handshake line, Tang turned toward the far side of the arena and kept pointing into the stands behind the K-State bench as he explained what he witnessed.
As mentioned, neither coach said much of anything about it immediately afterward.
“Nothing happened,” Tang said. “We talked about a situation that took place during the game and he said he would check into it. Then I told him, ‘Thank you,’ and went on. I love TJ. He does a great job. What an unbelievable environment it was out there.”
Added Otzelberger: “There’s a point in time where things are said between coaches that needs to stay that way. So that’s where we’re going to keep it.”
Pollard later told The Messenger that he reviewed the entire game video twice and spoke with several fans and staff members who were near the Kansas State bench during the game. After those discussions were over, he found no evidence that anyone was spying on Kansas State’s huddle.
The possibility of cheating in that game created a distraction for both K-State and Iowa State as they prepared for new opponents on Saturday. The Wildcats lost at Houston 74-52 and the Cyclones defeated Kansas 79-75.
This story was originally published January 27, 2024 at 3:18 PM with the headline "Iowa State denies spying on K-State timeout huddles during recent basketball game."