Sad News: A five-star player from Texas Tech Red Raiders has joined the Arkansas Razorbacks after reaching an agreement.

We will soon see how the Texas Tech basketball team handles pressure. The pressure that comes with playing against Iowa State’s defense, which is one of the best and most aggressive in college hoops, and the pressure of playing at Hilton Coliseum, one of the toughest gyms in the country. The combination of that defense and that home court has been tough enough to crack the likes of Houston, Kansas and TCU. If the Red Raiders can somehow succeed where the Cougars, Jayhawks and Horned Frogs couldn’t, they’ll have strapped the first home-court loss of the season on the Cyclones, and they will have effectively clinched a spot in the NCAA tournament. There is much to gain here, but the path is of the stoniest sort.

ISU’s reputation for defensive excellence is manifested in the numbers. The Cyclones hold opponents to an average of 62 points per game, 40-percent shooting, and they force almost 18 turnovers per contest, which is No. 3 nationally. In Big XII play, they are also No. 1 in turnover margin and No. 1 in steals.

The essence of Iowa State’s defense is intense ball pressure, clogging the passing lanes, and doubling post catches and high ball screens. The Cyclones seek to discomfit the opposition maximally and by doing force a loss of composure, which produces multiple turnovers and runs for Iowa State that break the game open. They can do it, too, particularly in Hilton Coliseum.

Obviously, fracturing this defense is not easy. But there are certain principles and tactics that can help. First, passivity is fatal. Any offense that plays timidly and allows the Cyclones to attack with impunity will be swallowed whole. The Red Raiders will have to counteract ISU’s aggressiveness with equal aggressiveness of their own. This means hard cuts to the basket, exploding out of breaks, and taking chances with difficult passes to cutters. Iowa State’s defense is high-risk/high-reward, and the antidote is a high-risk/high-reward offensive approach.

ISU is not a team of star players. Indeed, even though the Cyclones are atop the Big XII leaderboard and may be the best team in the conference, if the all-Big XII vote were held right now it is entirely possible that no Cyclone would make the first team.

Point guard Tamin Lipsey is Iowa State’s best player, though. Last year he was a pure point guard who couldn’t shoot a lick. He has, however, improved his shooting a great deal and is now a threat to score at all three levels as well as to facilitate, and he is also a defensive pest.

Keshon Gilbert, a transfer from UNLV whose praises I sung in the preseason, is another multidimensional scorer, and Buffalo transfer Curtis Jones, another I was bullish on, is really coming into his own as Iowa State’s top shooter. Robert Jones and Tre King are blue-collar big men who do all the dirty work.