Saturday’s contest between No. 23 Iowa State and No. 18 Kansas State had major Big 12 title race implications. With a 78-64 win, the Cyclones blew that title race wide open. 

The Cyclones jumped out early after a slow start, taking a 38-31 lead into the halftime break on the back of 14 straight points from Talen Horton-Tucker, who led the Cyclones in scoring in the first half.

Horton-Tucker hit six threes and seemed unfazed by the road crowd, scoring 20 points. 

Iowa State shot 8-for-14 from 3-point range in the first half, while Kansas State missed five of its eight shots from deep. The Cyclones were able to keep Kansas State at bay for much of the game, but the second half beared a closer resemblance to the scrappiness of the first meeting between the teams. 

After Wildcats forward Dean Wade went down with a foot injury, the Cyclones leaned on sophomore guard Lindell Wigginton to keep up with each Kansas State basket. Wigginton led the Cyclones with 23 points.

The Cyclones shot better than 50 percent from the floor and from 3-point range, keeping Kansas State’s comeback attempts at bay and ending the Wildcats’ nine-game conference winning streak.

Now 8-4 in conference play, Iowa State sits one game back of Kansas State at 9-3 and a half-game back of Texas Tech and Kansas at 9-4. 

Up next for the Cyclones is a home game against Baylor on Tuesday at 8 p.m.