Paced by a career-high 20 points from junior guard Tyrus McGee, the ISU men’s basketball team cruised to its second Big 12 road win of the season, 76-54 against Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas.

The Lowdown

Neither team could establish a lead early in Saturday’s game as the two teams traded leads nine times in the early going before a 7-0 run by the Cyclones (14-5, 4-2 Big 12) to take a 17-11 lead. Texas Tech (7-11, 0-6 Big 12) fell behind by 10 after a McGee dunk that brought the score to 26-16. McGee continued his impressive first stanza, knocking down four 3-pointers and totaling 14 points as the Cyclones took 35-23 halftime lead.

Sophomore forward Melvin Ejim got the Cyclones off to a hot start in the second half scoring seven of his 13 points early in the half. McGee added two more 3-pointers in the half and senior guard Chris Allen chipped in with seven second-half points as Iowa State maintained its double-digit lead and ran away with its second Big 12 road win of 20-plus points on the season.

X Factor

ISU guard Tyrus McGee

After scoring only 16 points on 6-14 shooting through the first four games on conference play, McGee has scored 37 points and shot 11-20 from 3-point range in the last two. In addition to his team-high 20 points, the 6-foot-2 Stringtown, Okla. native also pulled down four rebounds, had one steal and did not turn the ball over once against Texas Tech.

By the Numbers

4: conference wins for the Cyclones through six games, eclipsing their conference win total last season (3-13). Iowa State finished with four wins in conference play in each of Greg McDermott’s last three seasons as coach (2007-08 thru 2009-10).

4-2: Iowa State’s record in Big 12 play, its first 4-2 start since 2003-04 when the Cyclones finished the season 20-13 and 7-9 in the Big 12.

5: consecutive wins for Texas Tech at home against Iowa State coming into Saturday. The Cyclones’ last win in Lubbock was an 87-79 victory on March 1, 2000.

6: 3-pointers for McGee, a career-high.

11: steals for Iowa State, a season-high.

20: points scored by Texas Tech forward Robert Lewandowski leading the Red Raiders, who dropped their sixth straight game in conference play.

24: margin of victory for the Cyclones, tying their largest margin of victory in Big 12 conference play this season; 74-50 at Texas A&M on January 7. The margin of victory was also the largest for Iowa State in 20 meetings between the two schools.

Up next for Iowa State

The Cyclones will travel back to the Lonestar state on Tuesday as they’ll play in Austin, Texas against Texas. The Longhorns (12-7, 2-4 in Big 12) lost at home 69-66 on Saturday to Big 12-leader Kansas. Iowa State and Texas squared off in the first conference game of the season with the Cyclones getting 17 points from junior guard Chris Babb en route to a 77-71 win at Hilton Coliseum.