The Lowdown

With a sellout crowd on its feet Saturday, the ISU men’s basketball team left the court with a resume-building victory in hand. 

Iowa State (14-5, 4-2 Big 12) knocked off No. 11 Kansas State (15-4, 4-2) 73-67 in its first game following Wednesday’s loss against Texas Tech. The win extended the team’s winning streak at Hilton Coliseum to 18 consecutive games. 

Iowa State was led by senior Will Clyburn, who scored 24 points in the win. Guard Korie Lucious had 10 points to go along with eight assists, and forward Georges Niang added 15 points for the Cyclones. 

X Factor

Will Clyburn — The senior guard led the way for the Cyclones in the win, scoring 24 points to go along with 10 rebounds. Clyburn shot 8-of-16 from the field for Iowa State and made six of the team’s 10 free throws. 

Turning Point

With 5:35 remaining in the game the Cyclones led the Wildcats 61-56 when Clyburn avoided letting K-State’s Angel Rodriguez throw the ball off him at mid-court. Clyburn picked the ball up after it rolled along the sideline and dished it to Korie Lucious, who passed it off to Melvin Ejim for the dunk.

The dunk pushed Iowa State’s lead to 63-56 and brought the sellout crowd at Hilton Coliseum to its feet, forcing K-State coach Bruce Weber to call a timeout. The Cyclones never again trailed in the game. 

By the Numbers

35 — After being out-rebounded in their loss to Texas Tech on Wednesday, the Cyclones controlled the boards Saturday against the Wildcats. Iowa State had 11 offensive rebounds after bringing in only three Wednesday. 

11 — Iowa State again used strong shooting from beyond the arc in the win. The Cyclones went 11-of-22 on 3-pointers and made eight 3’s in the second half alone to carry them to victory. 

45.5 — Both teams struggled from the free throw line at Hilton. The Cyclones went just 10-of-22 from the line Saturday for a 45.5 free throw percentage. 

18 — Behind 11 offensive rebounds the Cyclones scored 18 second chance points Saturday. Kansas State scored only two second chance points. 

Quotables

“That’s a big momentum changer right there. When you get a play like that, the crowd just erupted. Hilton was awesome tonight, every seat in the house was packed. It’s great to see that atmosphere to come home to after a disappointing loss to know your fans still have your back like they did today.” — ISU coach Fred Hoiberg on Clyburn’s steal that led to a dunk and the role of Hilton Coliseum in the win. 

“Both of us were coming off disappointing losses and it’s a maturity game, it’s a determination game, who was more determined. I think they made more determined plays when it counted.” — K-State coach Bruce Weber on the game after both teams lost earlier in the week. 

“Coach is preaching all the time that we need to rebound and that we need to be the best rebounding team. I think everybody has the mentality to just get in there and rebound.” — Guard Will Clyburn on the team’s strong rebounding effort against K-State.  

“I’m probably going to go to Sukup and shoot a couple hundred [free throws] tonight. It’s just a mental thing, and I’ll get over it. It’s just a little slump here.” — ISU forward Georges Niang on the free throw shooting.

“The guy I thought was the player of the game, you probably won’t believe me, but I thought it was Naz Long. I’m standing up there at half court, [Rodney] McGruder is going to the free thorw line and he run up and says the clock didn’t start. They run seven seconds off, so give this one to Naz.” — Hoiberg on Naz Long, who didn’t play, but helped get time run off the clock at the end of the game.