DAYTON, Ohio — Georges Niang didn’t act the part of a freshman in his first NCAA tournament game.

As the referee tossed the ball for tipoff between No. 7-seeded Notre Dame and No. 10-seeded Iowa State on Friday night, the adrenaline flowed through Niang.

Any early nerves subsided not long after and helped Niang put forth one of the strongest performances of his young career. That, combined with a strong inside game, pushed the Cyclones (23-11) to the third round of the NCAA tournament with a 76-58 victory against the Fighting Irish (25-10).

“When I finally got to run out for warmups it was like, ‘Wow, it’s really incredible to be here,'” Niang said of his first NCAA tournament appearance. “But me, I’m never satisfied with being somewhere, I want to be there to stay.”

Niang and the Cyclones made that abundantly clear in the first half. Iowa State ended the half on a 26-10 run following a Melvin Ejim 3-pointer with 14:14 remaining, and never looked back.

The Cyclones went 14-of-18 from the field to start the second half and led by as many as 27 points before the Irish ended the game on a 9-0 run.

While Notre Dame entered the game focused on exploiting Iowa State’s lack of height inside, the Irish only outscored the Cyclones in the paint by a two-point margin, 34-32.

“We were able to exploit them inside,” said Ejim, who scored 17 points to go with eight rebounds. “It came a lot from them having to respect us as jump-shooters and that opened up the lane.”

The lane was especially open for Niang, who tied a career-high with 19 points and scored seven consecutive points for the Cyclones at one point in the second half. Niang also finished with four assists and brought down three rebounds.

“Pretty good performance by a first-timer out there,” said ISU coach Fred Hoiberg. “I remember my first NCAA tournament game, I was so nervous I couldn’t throw the ball in the ocean. For Georges to come out, it just shows the confidence and the swagger he plays with.”

As Niang backed down the Notre Dame forwards in the paint, turned and sunk hook shots, he also let them know he could hang with them despite what some believed entering the game.

“I know some comments were said in their interviews, some stuff that we didn’t appreciate,” Niang said of Notre Dame. “They were sort of calling out me and Melvin and how we can’t guard them. What have me and Melvin done? We’ve played against bigger guys the whole year.

“We just felt like we had to bring our lunch pail and go to work again.”

Niang, as he has often come to do in his first season, made sure to let his opponent know that he came to work, too.

“He’s such a great finisher,” Hoiberg said. “Not only does he go around and finish over them, he tells them about it going down the court. He’s got that swagger. Sometimes I tell him ‘You’ve got to relax and play within yourself.'”

One reason for the swagger stems from going unnoticed by many. Niang was over-shadowed at Tilton High School by the No. 1 recruit in 2012, Nerlens Noel.

Then throughout his freshman season, he was also often overlooked in the Big 12 with freshman Big 12 Player of the Year Marcus Smart and freshman All-Big 12 First Teamer Ben McLemore stealing the spotlight.

“The kid has played with a chip on his shoulder because he’s been so underappreciated and undervalued his entire life,” Hoiberg said. “Playing with those great McDonald’s All-American players and not getting the recognition that he deserves.

“He’s showing the world who he is right now.”

For Iowa State, it couldn’t come at a better time.