Will Clyburn had no idea how the ball did not go out of bounds. Kansas State coach Bruce Weber called it “one of those infield grounders that just stay inside.”

The score was 61-56 with 5 minutes and thirty-three minutes remaining. Kansas State’s Rodney McGruder dribbled down to the right and passed across Angel Rodriguez, who fumbled it and attempted to throw it off Will Clyburn’s leg.

Instead of the ball ricocheting off Clyburn’s leg and going out of bounds, the ball rolled along the line, where Clyburn snatched it up, passed ahead where Korie Lucious then passed off to Melvin Ejim for a dunk to cap off an 8-0 run for Iowa State. This spurred a timeout by Weber and a sold out crowd at Hilton Coliseum to jump to its feet. 

“I don’t know how that ball didn’t go out of bounds,” Clyburn said. “It hit me, but it stayed in. I was surprised when I was going after it.”

That was just one of Clyburn’s key plays of the day as Iowa State (14-5, 4-2 Big 12) rebounded from a bad loss to Texas Tech earlier in the week with a 73-67 win against No. 11 Kansas State (15-4, 4-2).

Clyburn led Iowa State with 24 points and 10 rebounds, which was his third 20 point game of the season and fifth game with at least 10 rebounds. 

After being out-rebounded at Texas Tech on Wednesday, the Cyclones finished with a 35-28 advantage against one of the most physical teams in the Big 12. Along with that, they brought in 11 offensive rebounds and held a monumental 18-2 advantage in second-chance points. 

“We’re religious on the boards,” said Clyburn, who finished with five of those offensive rebounds. “We need to be the best rebounding team. I think everyone has that mentality.”

The Cyclones picked up their Big 12-leading 3-point shooting against the Wildcats, going 11-of-22 from behind the line. 

Lucious made both of his attempts, Tyrus McGee made 3-of-4 and Georges Niang made his 2-of-3. Niang shot better from behind the arc than he did from the stripe that wasn’t too charitable, making only 1-of-6.

As a whole, Iowa State made only 10 of its 22 free-throw attempts.

“I’m probably going to go to Sukup and shoot a couple hundred tonight,” Niang said. “It’s just a mental thing and I’ll get over it.”

Chris Babb was quiet on the offensive end, but his defensive presence was felt the entire game. Babb played all 40 minutes, chasing McGruder through a gauntlet of screens the entire game.

McGruder, who was the lead scorer in Big 12 Conference play, scored 13 points and brought in seven rebounds, but he never heated up or made consecutive shots from the floor. 

“For Babb to do that for 40 minutes, one it shows the type of conditioning that Chris has, also McGruder for being able to be that active, but to hold him to 13, I’d say that’s a pretty solid day,” ISU coach Fred Hoiberg said of his senior defender.