While many Big 12 teams, especially Baylor, are trying to figure out how to stop Jake Sullivan, teammate Jared Homan thinks he is catching on to Sullivan’s secrets.

“He’s very deceptive — he’s got deceiving quickness,” Homan said. “He’s very crafty, he’s got a nice jumper once he elevates and gets into the lane. He fades away and he can put that away any time.”

Sullivan shot 9-for-11 from the field, including three of five from downtown, and 5-for-5 from the line for a game-high 26 points. His final miss of the game came with 1:11 left in the first half. He also had a game high of four assists.

“Without him we’re not close, he really played well,” head coach Larry Eustachy said. “He really stepped up.”

After coming off a 1-for-10 shooting performance in a loss at Oklahoma State on Wednesday, Sullivan wanted to be a more positive factor against Baylor.

“I knew I would come out and play well tonight,” Sullivan said. “I was confident.”

Sullivan credited his confidence and solid performance to some recent discussions he had with Eustachy.

“Coach has helped me a lot the last couple days with some leadership stuff,” Sullivan said. “Getting other people involved, just other things to help this team win. It really helped tonight, it got me in a nice rhythm right from the start.”

While Homan was revealing his secrets about Sullivan, Eustachy had some telling of his own about Homan’s game, who also came up huge for the Cyclones, playing limited minutes due to early foul trouble.

“He’s a little quicker than you think. He can be quick when he wants to,” Eustachy said. “He is as tough as you think.”

After a nine-minute stint in the second half with Homan on the bench and Clint Varley guarding Baylor threat Lawrence Roberts, Homan re-entered the game scoring five points and grabbing five rebounds in four minutes, giving the Cyclones a much-needed boost.

“We didn’t know what he was going to do because he struggled throughout the game,” Eustachy said.

Eustachy compared the performance of Varley, whose nine minutes resulted in zero statistics across the board, to his effectiveness in a Cyclone win at Iowa earlier in the year when he provided a defensive spark off the bench.

“Once again you can chalk one up to Varley. If he doesn’t play those nine minutes of playing Roberts right, we’re in trouble,” Eustachy said. “But also we don’t win the game without Jared at the end.”

Homan, who left 10 seconds into the second half with four fouls, ended the game with eight points, seven rebounds and a block in just 15 minutes.

“Ten seconds? Oh that’s a good stat,” Homan joked.

“That’s complete and total toughness,” Sullivan said. “To be able to be in foul trouble, be out of a rhythm the whole night and come in and execute like he did, hats off to him. He was a big reason we won, as was Varley.”

Tim Barnes followed Sullivan with 13 points on five of eight from the field. He also led the Cyclones with three steals. Jackson Vroman kept the Cyclones in it early with eight quick points, but cooled down to end with 12 on the night.

Freshman Adam Haluska, who also struggled with fouls early and saw limited action, finished with just four points, two assists and a steal.

Baylor, which leads the Big 12 in three-point baskets made, continued with hot shooting, making 10-of-23 from beyond the arc including a near half-court shot with the shot clock expiring.

“That team we played is now 0-6,” Eustachy said. “It’s just amazing about this league because that team would win a lot of conferences in the country, a lot, the majority of them. They are younger than we are, that is scary.”

Guard Kenny Taylor led the Bears with 20 points, draining four three-pointers. Roberts struggled shooting but finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Ellis Kidd came in with 12 points off the Baylor bench as well.

Baylor struggled defensively, allowing the Cyclones to shoot 54 percent for the game, never going under 50 percent for either half.

“It’s just hard work,” Tim Barnes said of the good shooting. “Our coaches have so much confidence in us right now, and that’s helping with our teammates getting us wide open shots, that’s the 54 [percent]. Wow.”

The win makes Iowa State 12-6 and 2-5 in the conference while Baylor falls to 9-8 and 0-6 in the Big 12.

“We’re 2-5 and excited,” Eustachy said, describing how difficult it is to play in the Big 12.

“Plus we tied the total wins from last year, that was a big accomplishment for us. I don’t know if we’ll get the next one, but it was good,” Eustachy joked.