Around 4 p.m. Friday, word filtered out that Iowa State would be without leading scorer Lindell Wigginton, and the tenor around Missouri’s trek to Ames changed in pitch.
On Monday, the Tigers seemed poised to meet a potential NCAA tournament team. Then before the Cyclones season-opener on Tuesday, coach Steve Prohm announced the seven-game suspensions of Cameron Lard and Zoran Talley Jr., punching a hole in ISU’s frontcourt rotation. Finally, news of Wigginton’s absence meant Iowa State was relying on just a sole returning starter in Nick Weiler-Babb and a pair of transfers in Marial Shayok and Michael Jacobson and offset the Tigers’ advantage in the paint.