That was life on day three of the tournament’s new LED-backlit glass floor, which has drawn mixed reviews both for looks and for safety, leading to the Big 12’s decision to replace it with hardwood before Friday’s semifinal games. Several players have said the glass floor has more bounce than a wood floor but more are saying it is slippery than those who say it isn’t.
“Obviously, the floor is a bit slippery,” Anderson said. “I just kind of misstepped or did a move that caused me to slip and kind of ended up in an unnatural position.”
But ultimately, no Wildcats were hurt and Burries said, after getting used to it during warmups, the only time that it bothered him was when he shot free throws.
“If you’re shooting a free throw and you’re on the other side, the LED lights get in your eyes a little bit,” Burries said. “But ain’t no big deal, really.”
UA forward Ivan Kharchenkov, who played on a similar glass floor last season for Bayern Munich, said he actually felt the floor was safer because logos and graphics were in lights, not stickers.
“Back in Germany, we have a lot of stickers on hardwood floors. It’s slippery,” Kharchenkov said. “I don’t know if it’s a European thing or whatever, but stickers are horrible. They just don’t have the grip. You slide above the sticker, and then you get traction with the floor again. It’s really dangerous.”
When discussing Friday’s Arizona-Iowa State matchup, Big 12-focused ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla said no fan base has been crazier inside the T-Mobile Center than Iowa State’s.
Yep, even more so than the fans from Kansas, who are famously known for their legendary noise at Allen Fieldhouse, just about an hour to the west.
