The Lowdown

The ISU men’s basketball team cruised to an easy 93-65 victory against Nebraska-Omaha on Sunday. Iowa State started out of the gate on an 18-2 run, as UNO never led in the game.

Iowa State was led by Georges Niang in his first start as a Cyclone, scoring 15. Six players in all for the Cyclones were in double figures for scoring.

X Factor

Georges Niang — In his first start as a Cyclone, the freshman scored 15 points, making five of his nine shots and hitting five of six free throws. Niang also added six rebounds and four assists on the night. 

Turning Point

With 10:16 left in the first half, Omaha brought the score back to a four point defict, 22-18, after Iowa State had started the game on an 18-2 run. 

Over the next 3:47 the Cyclones went on a 13-0 run to put the game out of reach. Omaha never led in the game. 

By The Numbers

45 — Number of rebounds Iowa State had in the game. 

11 — The amount of 3-pointers the Cyclones made in the game. 

23 — The total assists Iowa State finished with. 

6 — Iowa State only finished with six turnovers. 

Quotables

“I felt like it didn’t really change much. I think it’s the same Georges you’re going to see all year. Nothing changes.” — Niang on starting his first game. 

“I think it was a great collective effort by everyone to get in there and get more rebounds. We got killed last game we just wanted to come out and get another game knocked out, improve and move forward.” — Anthony Booker on the rebounding effort tonight. 

“I wanted to change things around a little bit. In Anthony’s case he’s been picking up too early of fouls, I just wanted to get him in a different flow and different rhythm and I really think it helped him. It was just switching things up after coming off an emotional loss and I thought everybody responded well.” — ISU coach Fred Hoiberg on starting Percy Gibson and Georges Niang over Melvin Ejim and Anthony Booker.

“Georges is such a crafty player, not a lot of guys like him. He’s so unique in his ability to get to the basket, he can knock down an outside shot and his ability to shoot that jump hook from 15 feet, that’s a pretty good weapon to have in your arsenal.” — Hoiberg on Niang’s offensive ability

“We still have got work to do, there’s no doubt about it. This is one where you’ve got to get through it. Coming off an emotional loss where we didn’t handle adversity well. We had some of those moments last year where we didn’t handle adversity well early on in the season. We weren’t trusting each other I didn’t feel.

“I felt we had that a few of those moments as well, especially in those three losses that we have. I was happy with the way our guys responded. They came out, they played the right way today, we took care of business and did what we’re supposed to do. The most important thing is we played the right way and made simple basketball plays.” — Hoiberg on where is team stands at this point in the season.