The ISU men’s basketball team overcame a hot shooting start by Nebraska to notch a 71-62 victory over the Huskers Wednesday night and move the Cyclones (11-5) to 2-0 in the Big 12.

Nebraska (11-4, 0-1 Big 12) made seven of its first eight shots and five of its first seven 3-pointers, grabbing an early 22-14 lead on Iowa State.

Cyclone guard Mike Taylor attributed the rocky start to defensive and mental breakdowns by Iowa State.

“It was a lack of communication on our transition,” Taylor said. “We knew they were going to shoot it, and we knew we were supposed to find the shooters in transition even if they weren’t our guy. “

The Cyclones went on an 11-2 run to end the half trailing by just three points.

After the half, the Cyclones and Taylor came out smoking with a 21-9 spurt to give Iowa State a 48-39 lead.

The energetic and vocal crowd was in the game the whole way, giving first-year Cyclone head coach Greg McDermott his first taste of Hilton Magic within the conference season.

“The crowd was outstanding,” McDermott said. “The adrenaline rush that the crowd provides is incredible.”

McDermott also pointed to the run to begin the second half as a key factor in the Cyclones’ ability to pull away and hang on for victory.

“I’ve always felt that the first five minutes of the first half and the first five minutes of the second half are some of the most important times in basketball,” McDermott said. “In some ways I think the start of the second half is more important because you don’t have halftime in there to right yourself if you don’t start out so well.”

The atmosphere of the game was a far cry from what it was during last year’s 10-point home loss to the Huskers. The loss was particularly painful for the Cyclones and their fans, who watched as Nebraska center Aleks Maric scored 37 points and pulled down 16 rebounds. Center Jiri Hubalek and the rest of the Cyclones, however, were able to limit Maric to 20 points and 13 rebounds on Wednesday.

“I think those guys read the newspaper and watch TV and look around the Internet,” McDermott said. “They know what happened. There were some comments made by one of their teammates after the game last year, and these guys have a lot of pride, and they showed that.”

The youthful Cyclones, with two wins already under their belt in conference, are already approaching paltry preseason wins projections that had Iowa State at or near the bottom of the conference with only a handful of wins, making each win extremely important.

“I’ve never been part of a win that wasn’t a huge win,” McDermott said. “[Winning] is hard to do . We’re not playing with a lot of fear, and that’s why we’re going to have a chance.”