Varley sparks comeback

Senior forward Clint Varley, who isn’t on scholarship, came off the bench to give Iowa State a boost against Iowa Friday.

The Menlo native had two points and three rebounds in eight minutes of work, as the Cyclones came back from a 12-point deficit.

“This is a game that he can take to his grave and without him, we would not have won the game,” ISU head coach Larry Eustachy said. “We were sluggish in some areas and he came in and was the X-factor.”

Jake Sullivan and Jackson Vroman also pointed out Varley as the key to victory for the Cyclones.

“For me, this is one of the biggest victories of my career,” Varley said.

“And we’ve had a lot of big victories in the last four years.”

Sullivan gives halftime speech

Eustachy said he didn’t have to say a thing to his team at halftime. Jake Sullivan was doing the talking.

“I didn’t really say anything at halftime. Jake said it all,” Eustachy said. “He really got on the team at halftime.”

Sullivan, Iowa State’s leading scorer, spoke to his teammates about Allison Welk, an Ames second-grader he had met earlier in the day who was suffering from brain cancer. He said he saw her fighting for her life and couldn’t stand the lack of effort the Cyclones put forth in the first half.

“She couldn’t talk, she was tired from going through chemo and she got excited when somebody said ‘macaroni and cheese,’ ” Sullivan said. “And yet we’re going to come out here and play like that in the first half when we have this opportunity and God gave us this?”

Iowa State outscored Iowa 42-29 in the second half.

Barnes, Vroman taste rivalry

Tim Barnes’ eyes lit up and he grinned when he was asked what his first impression of the Iowa-Iowa State rivalry was like. As a junior college transfer, it was Barnes’ first action in the traditional intrastate game.

“Oh my God, it’s bigger than what I thought,” Barnes said. “You really can’t put it into perspective until you actually get out there and play, but I had no idea it was this big.”

Vroman, who had 13 points and seven rebounds in his first action against Iowa, agreed with Barnes.

“Oh it’s fun, man,” Vroman said. “We got the good end of it tonight.”

— Jeff Raasch