It was a tale of two completely different halves for Mike Taylor.

In the first half, the Cyclones’ leading scorer wasn’t a factor, scoring no points and missing all six of his shots.

The second half was a different story.

All of Taylor’s 21 points came in the game’s final 8:39, making seven of his 13 field goal attempts and nearly bringing Iowa State back into a game it trailed from the beginning.

“I had some good looks,” Taylor said. “I was just off.”

As a team, Iowa State shot just 30 percent in the first half and 36 percent for the game. The Cyclones made just six of their first 20 field goal attempts and didn’t make a 3-pointer until just under 16 minutes left in the game.

It all added up to a 69-60 home loss for the Cyclones.

Teams have been guarding Taylor with taller, longer players, starting last weekend with Kansas’ Brandon Rush.

The larger players have made it hard for the ISU guard to get open for good shots.

Taylor didn’t use the Kansas State defense as an excuse for his poor shooting start, knowing that he’s the player the ISU offense relies on.

“I don’t think it was the defense, it was just mental,” Taylor said. “You have to credit some to the defense; it was a bigger body on me, but it wasn’t anything different from what I’ve seen.”

Taylor’s game was also affected by a change in the starting lineup.

Coach Greg McDermott started Dodie Dunson at guard in place of Cory McIntosh, meaning Taylor became the Cyclones’ primary ball handler.

“It’s a lot to put on Mike’s shoulders,” McDermott said. “He’s a marked man to start with because we rely on him to do so much offensively and now he’s being pressured by their best defender and we expect him to run our offense and get into our offense.”

While Taylor turned on the offensive jets in the second half, no one else was able to compliment him.

Taylor scored 21 of the Cyclones’ last 25 points, making 7-of-11 shots in the last nine minutes.

The rest of the team made just two of their eight shots in that same time period, with one field goal each coming from Jiri Hubalek and Dunson.

Taylor’s offensive outburst was Iowa State’s only chance to come back and steal the game from the Wildcats, McDermott said.

Scoring in bunches is something fans are becoming accustomed to seeing from Taylor. He scored 25 of his 33 points in the second half of a comeback win at Minnesota, and dropped in 22 points in the first half of Iowa State’s next game against Lake Superior State.

“We were trying to get back in the game,” McDermott said. “When you’re in that situation you have to score points as quickly as you possibly can. It was out of desperation; it was the only chance we had to sneak back in the game.”