A poor first half was too much to overcome as Iowa State’s sixth straight trip to the NCAA tournament was cut short by UW-Green Bay 71-57 on Saturday at Hilton Coliseum.

The Cyclones (18-13, 9-10 Big 12) struggled in the first half, committing a season-high 19 turnovers. The Phoenix (31-1, 17-1 Horizon League) now advance to play No. 2 Kentucky in the second round Monday. 

“Green Bay was outstanding from start to finish. There were really no answers for some of the things that we did wrong,” said ISU coach Bill Fennelly. “You’ve got to credit them, they’re a great team that’s well-coached, they play hard, they play as a unit.

“I’m very impressed with their program. [It’s] certainly a team that’s going to be a tough out in this tournament.”

Fennelly went on the compare the Phoenix to a team similar to VCU in the 2011 NCAA men’s basketball tournament — which made it to the Final Four with a No. 11 seed — in this year’s tournament, even with its ranking.

UW-Green Bay senior Julie Wojta said she didn’t let her team’s seeding affect how they played. 

“We definitely had a little chip on our shoulder,” Wojta said. “We didn’t want to make it anything more than it was. Hey, it’s a [No. 7], we’ll take it, let’s go play. As soon as the ball goes up, we forget about the number. “

In the first half, the Phoenix were not going to be stopped. In the first 20 minutes, they made 15 shots from the field while the Cyclones only took 15 shots from the field, making six. 

The Phoenix also hit nine 3-pointers compared to the Cyclones’ mere six field goals in the entire half. 

“I think we dug ourselves into such a big hole going into half time that we couldn’t get out of it,” said Brynn Williamson, who had 10 points on the night. “We tried to come together, but it just didn’t work in the end for us.”

Green Bay’s suffocating defense is what haltered Iowa State’s shooting, applying a 2-3 zone that trapped, something Iowa State hasn’t dealt with a lot this year.

The trap the Phoenix applied didn’t allow the Cyclones to run their usual offense of catch-and-shoot behind the arc. Instead, they were doubled the moment they caught the ball and were forced to look elsewhere for points.

“We’ve played a lot of good teams this season, but they’re up there. Their defense is one of the best I’ve seen,” Williamson said. “The fact [is] that every player hustles. It’s not the fact that they made us turn the ball over, but they were converting off of our turnovers as well.”

The Phoenix also forced a season-high 19 turnovers with 12 in the first half. Iowa State had 30 turnovers throughout the entire game, which Green Bay converted into 28 points.

Green Bay slowed down in the second half offensively, only making one 3-pointer on 10 attempts. The Cyclones even cut the deficit to 10 points with three minutes remaining, but they couldn’t get any closer for the rest of the game.

“We defended better in the second half and for the most part took care of the ball a bit better,” Fennelly said. “But when you turn the ball over that many times, it’s borderline impossible to win unless you do a lot of other things perfect and we didn’t do that tonight.”

For Iowa State to have a year like this after a January that left the Cyclones 0-5 in Big 12 play and to have climbed out of that hole to get into the NCAA tournament, Fennelly said it was not only the hardest year he’s ever had.

Fennelly also said it’s never too early to start working and re-evaluating for next year, starting from the top.

“Everything. How do we do things. How do we practice. How do we run our staff. How do we do a lot of things, who do we recruit. Everything,” Fennelly said. “That’s a process that’s hard to do, but you’ve got to do it.”