The Lowdown

After jumping out to as much as an 18-point lead in the second half, spurred by an 18-4 run through the first seven minutes of the second half, West Virginia hit nine  of their next 11 3-pointers to tie the game with 11.6 seconds left. 

Then, with a chance at a game-winner, Will Clyburn dribbled up the right side, spun and found Georges Niang who laid it in with 2.5 seconds left. West Virginia never got a chance to shoot in the last two seconds. 

X Factor

Melvin Ejim — The Big 12’s leading rebounder continued his efficient play, scoring 16 points and bringing down 13 boards, shooting 5-10 from the field and 3-4 from behind the arc.

He also had two assists, a steal and one block, which came on a chase down a fast break, sending the ball into the stands. 

Turning Point

Second-half surge — Iowa State came out of halftime playing as well as they have all year, starting on an 18-4 run in the first 7:30 of the period. 

During that run, Iowa State made 8-12 from the field, with only one 3-point bucket and a Clyburn free-throw that came on an and-one 180-dunk. 

By The Numbers

5 — Iowa State had five turnovers in the first eight minutes of play, the same amount they finished with against Texas on Saturday. They finished the half with only one more turnover and finished the game with 12.

6-8 — After West Virginia started the game 0-13 from the 3-point line, they hit nine of their next 11 from behind the arc to tie the game at 67 with 11.6 seconds left. 

Quotables

 “He was awesome. Melvin did everything for us; especially when he can step out and knock down shots, that makes us pretty difficult to defend on a night when our two best shooters, Babb and Tyrus struggle.” — Hoiberg on Melvin Ejim’s night

“It’s tough. We work on late-game situations in practice. We put it in Korie’s hands some and in Will’s hands some. I thought Will, with a smaller defender on him — and again you try and slip that screen and try to create some confusion. I thought we did that. But with Will’s strength and his size, we thought his ability to get that thing in the paint, even if they double-teamed him, was probably the way to go.” — Hoiberg on his late-game play call, going with Clyburn 

“We just really tried to iso[late] Will. We tried to have him come down and come off a fake screen from Georges. It worked. Will made a great play, found Georges underneath. Made a great pass, that’s how we won the game. I’m happy.” — Korie Lucious on what he saw during the game-winning play

“They ball-screened and our bigs didn’t do anything. Honestly. It was our bigs. They were supposed to hard hedge and they didn’t hard hedge. They just kind of stood back there in the way. I’ve got three guys that think they’re Shaq, except they’re not.” — Bob Huggins on what Iowa State did to spark its 18-4 run to open the second half