The most effective tactic in battle is often said to be the surprise attack. Nebraska found that in center Aleks Maric in its 73-63 victory over Iowa State.

Maric came into the game averaging nine points and 7.5 rebounds, and exceeded both of those against the Cyclones on Wednesday night -by halftime.

“I don’t remember a guy having a night like that in my 30 years of coaching,” said coach Wayne Morgan.

“Obviously we weren’t strong enough to move him out of the way and we weren’t strong enough to keep the ball out of his hands.

“I have no other explanation than that.”

Maric poured in a whopping 37 points and 16 boards – including 18 and 9 in the first half – shattering his previous career highs in points (22) and in rebounds (12).

“To say that I’m disappointed and frustrated with our effort, especially in the first half would be a vast understatement,” Morgan said. “Obviously we did not have an answer for their big guy who had a career night in scoring and rebounding.”

Maric was 13-of-15 from the floor and 11-of-15 from the line to become the first Husker to score 30 points in one game since Tyronn Lue had 31 against Colorado in 1998.

“When one guy does that to you down low, that destroys whatever else you do,” said ISU guard Will Blalock.

“Yeah, we forced 14 turnovers in the second half, but it isn’t going to do anything if you can’t stop them from getting points.”

The Cyclones interior play and defense has been a sore spot all season, but never had one player exploited the Cyclones as severely as Maric did.

“I’m tired of people making excuses for them,” Blalock said of the ISU big men. “They’re young, but they’re talented, they just have to come out and use it.”

Frustration with the play down low may be starting to reach the boiling point for Blalock, especially after the Huskers outrebounded Iowa State 45-28.

ISU big men Ross Marsden, Jiri Hubalek, Shawn Taggart and Jessan Gray combined for just four rebounds, and Blalock pulled down six.

“I don’t know if they’re overcoached, I mean, everybody’s yelling at them constantly so I don’t know if it’s frustrating for them, so I can’t really fault them, but after a while it has to register in their head after a guy scores 18 in the first half, ‘I gotta do something to stop them,'” Blalock said.

“I don’t want to say they don’t care, but it just seems like that sometimes.”

The fact that Iowa State defeated the Huskers in Lincoln also got on Blalock’s nerves.

“It’s frustrating to know we got down there and pick them apart at home, and then we come here and they do the same thing to us,” he said. “Ever since I’ve been here . we never sweep anybody and it’s killing us because we needed that win.”

The lone bright spot in the game was the ISU pressure defense, which forced 19 Husker turnovers to just six by the Cyclones.

Still, even with a plus-13 turnover margin and 28 more shot attempts, Iowa State managed to make just one more field goal than Nebraska.

The 34 percent effort from the field, highlighted by a 6-of-28 birthday effort from Curtis Stinson, was Iowa State’s worst shooting performance of the year.

The loss was Iowa State’s third in a row and drops the Cyclones to 14-10 overall and 4-7 in the Big 12.

Iowa State’s next game is Saturday at Oklahoma. Tip-off is set for noon on ABC.