I remember watching that one as well. Didn't Ron Virgil have a big game?
Dec 19, 1987
- Thread starter CRcyclone6
- Start date
mine came from a little known nickname earned he earned while on the track team.
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The hoks had layup after layup against the undersized Cyclones, but it was Dr Tom‘s inability to adjust to how Iowa State continued to break the full court press that was the difference. That, and Lafester played out of his mind.
If teams were willing to really go for it and break that iowa press, points were easy to come by.
Grayer was the key to that. Having a third ball handler at the small forward position gave them an outlet when iowa denied both Woods and Thompkins. It didn't hurt that ISU's center was a better ball handler than most centers at the time. It was clear from the tip that Johnny had coached his guys to not be content to just break the press but to actually make Davis pay for pressing at the other end.
I'll admit I'm an old guy. I was at this game as a student.36 years ago. The Lafester game!
Iowa History Daily: December 19 - The Lafester Rhodes Game
Iowa History Daily: On December 19, 1987, #17 Iowa State beat #23 Iowa 102-100 in a men’s basketball matchup commonly known as “The Lafester Rhodes Game.” While dropping a school-record 54 points, Lafester Rhodes led the Cyclones to a memorable overtime victory in Iowa’s most bitter...www.notesoniowa.com
In the final seconds of the game, a couple of seconds ran off the clock following an out of bounds call and Davis was pissed. I always assumed it was in reference to our ‘homer’ clock operator.
Didn't even notice. Walked on for next song and he was none the wiser.
Year after year, ISU was one of the few teams that could break their press. It was like no one else studied it.
I haven't watched the tape in a long time, but I seem to recall there was some jawing back and forth between the benches at one of the final timeouts. Johnny was pissed they were taking too long to break the huddle and one of Dr. Tom's assistants lipped off to him.
PS: Was it Gary Close? Does anyone remember?
I was coaching high school basketball at the time. You could hear the buzz in the crowd during our game. Then a loud cheer from the crowd when it was over. Had no idea who won until our game was over.
Pretty sure the story is wrong. It says #17 Iowa State vs #23 Iowa. Almost positive it was #7 Iowa vs #20 Iowa State.
That started things, and then Johnny was pissed at the officials for not calling a T on Close for being out of the coach‘s box and whining at the scoring table.
Pretty sure Orr flipped out on the post-game radio show about that -- I remember him getting more and more animated. "That's a technical foul, man!" LOL
As a recent ISU graduate, I met my future wife at Glascott's on N. Halstead St. in Chicago in October 1987. She wanted me to go to her company Xmas party at a Japanese steakhouse on December 19, I wanted to watch ISU / EIU with my friends at the bar. I accompanied her to the Christmas party and must have called a 400 number twenty times for score updates from the pay phone in the vestibule. While I'm still married to the girl, with grown children and grandchildren to show for it, I will NEVER get over having missed THAT game with my friends.
I believe he only had 4 points, but he defended 7-ft Brad Lohaus. It was an amazing victory!
