On a day when Iowa State desperately needed heroes, an entire throng of Cyclones broke out their best performances at Hilton Coliseum to down the powerful Kansas Jayhawks.

Marcus Fizer slammed home an uncontested dunk with 54 seconds remaining in regulation to give the Cyclones their first and only lead of the game, a 52-50 advantage that would become the final score.

The Cyclones fought back from a 10-point halftime deficit on the strength of improved outside shooting. It was an incredible defense that held the Jayhawks to just 18 second-half points, the lowest total in Roy Williams’ distinguished career at the KU helm. The 50 total points were also an all-time low for Williams in a conference game and the fewest for Kansas since 1982.

“It was a great win, obviously,” head coach Larry Eustachy said. “These guys have worked so hard all year; they haven’t been rewarded recently, so I’m very happy for them.

“And me, too,” he added as a smiling afterthought.

Martin Rancik came up especially big for the Cyclones, draining a trio of second-half three-pointers, including two that tied the game down the stretch.

Michael Nurse had tied the game at 40 and then again at 42 before KU’s Jeff Boschee buried a deep trey from the right side to reclaim the lead.

Rancik answered by converting a Fizer dish from 20 feet to again knot the score at 45 apiece.

When Kenny Gregory converted a three-point play a minute later after being fouled in the act of shooting, it took another perfect Rancik jumper from beyond the arc to tie it up yet again, this time at 48-48.

“Fizer knew he was going to get double-teamed underneath in the second half,” Rancik said, “and he did a helluva job of kicking the ball out to the outside shooters. We just had to make sure we hit our shots.”

Kansas reclaimed the lead at 50-48, but a pair of clutch Nurse free throws and Fizer’s dunk provided the final margin of victory.

“The dunk was big,” Eustachy said, “but the tough play there was making the pass. Rancik did a nice job.”

Despite some offensive fireworks, the Cyclones rode their “D” to the victory.

“The key to this game was our defense,” Nurse said. “In the second half, we had to play great defense, and we did.”

The Cyclones shut out the Jayhawks over a 6:58 period in the second half and held them to .296 shooting over the final 20 minutes.

The ISU defensive effort was all-around, but one impressive contributor was junior Tony Rampton, who played nearly half of the final 20 minutes and held his man, KU standout Eric Chenowith, to just two second-half points.

“I’m really proud of Tony,” Rancik said. “He played a helluva game both on offense and defense.”

“We knew from the beginning that we could win this game,” Nurse said. “It wasn’t until Stevie [Johnson] ran out the clock and the final buzzer sounded that we knew we had it, but we were confident from the beginning.”

The Cyclones fell behind early in the game, spotting KU a 9-0 lead before finally getting on the board with a Fizer layup with 13:34 remaining.

The lead stayed near ten in the defense-dominated first half as both teams shot poorly from the field.

The Jayhawks were able to push the margin as high as 12 late in the half, but a 17-foot jumper by Johnson made the halftime score 32-22.

Nurse led all scorers in the contest with 14 points, and Fizer was close behind with 13 points and five rebounds.

Rancik rounded out the double-digit ISU scorers with 11 points to go with his four boards.

Johnson was the game’s only player with more than ten boards, finishing with 12 and seven points.

“We tend to get our clocks cleaned on national television,” Nurse said after the game. “It was good to win this one.”

“It feels so good to beat Kansas and Roy Williams,” Rancik said. “This is truly the biggest win of my whole life.”

Eustachy wasn’t quite as sentimental.

“The beer’s gonna taste a little colder tonight,” he said.

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IOWA ST. 52

KANSAS 50

 
KANSAS (19-9)ÿ
Bradford 3-7 0-0 6, Pugh 2-4 0-0 4, Chenowith 4-10 0-0 8, Robertson 2-5 0-0 4, Boschee 3-13 3-3 11, Earl 2-2 0-0 4, Nooner 0-2 0-0 0, Gregory 4-9 1-2 9, London 2-3 0-0 4, A. Johnson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-56 4-5 50.
IOWA ST. (15-14)ÿ
Fizer 6-13 0-0 13, S. Johnson 3-5 1-2 7, Edwards 1-4 0-0 2, Hampton 1-7 0-1 3, Nurse 5-15 2-2 14, Rancik 4-8 0-0 11, Corner 0-2 1-2 1, Rampton 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 20-54 5-9 52.
Halftime—Kansas 32, Iowa St. 22.
3-Point goals—Kansas 2-17 (Bradford 0-1, Chenowith 0-1, Robertson 0-2, Boschee 2-9, Nooner 0-2, Gregory 0-1, A. Johnson 0-1), Iowa St. 7-23 (Fizer 1-2, S. Johnson 0-1, Hampton 1-7, Nurse 2-9, Rancik 3-3, Corner 0-1).
Fouled out—None.
Rebounds—Kansas 37 (Bradford, Pugh 7), Iowa St. 32 (S. Johnson 12).
Assists—Kansas 13 (Robertson 5), Iowa St. 11 (Hampton 3).
Total fouls—Kansas 15, Iowa St. 14.
A—13,620.