The Iowa State-Kansas State rivalry looks to be heating up.
Cyclones coach T.J. Otzelberger was forced to deny cheating allegations against his program following an incident during their win over the Wildcats on Wednesday involving a student manager.
“It’s incredibly disappointing 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 told reporters after his team beat eighth-ranked Kansas. “The ludicrous rumors earlier this week that somehow we were trying to gain an advantage looking into our opponents’ huddles 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’m angry that someone would even make that suggestion.”
Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang appeared animated during a timeout on Wednesday, pointing at the crowd and speaking with Otzelberger at midcourt.
According to the Kansas City Star, which cited anonymous sources, Tang was concerned that Iowa State had student managers or other team representatives behind the visitors bench to view or record timeout huddles.
There was reportedly also a fear that information could be passed to the Iowa State bench via text messages.
Tang and Otzelberger also appeared to confer after the game ended, with Tang looking upset.
“I know you saw what you saw,” Tang told reporters afterward. “But I’m not going to talk about it.”
Otzelberger tried his best to shoot the allegations down on Saturday.
“Let’s put this to bed here and now,” he told reporters. “It didn’t happen. It won’t happen. And others need to be much more careful with their words moving forward.”
The two schools face off again on March 9 in Manhattan, Kan. for their regular-season finale.
