Iowa State was in control for about half of Saturday’s game against Kansas. At least, that’s what the boxscore told you.

The Cyclones wanted to come into their rematch with the Jayhawks with much improved effort and fight than what it showed in its 33 point loss in Allen Fieldhouse on Thursday. And for the first 12 minutes, Iowa State was doing it.

The Cyclones were up as much as seven in the first half, holding Kansas to 5-22 shooting for the first 13 minutes of the game. 

Kansas shot 29 percent (10-35) from the field in the first half, 3-10 from 3-point range and was out-rebounded by the Cyclones, the Big 12’s worst rebounding team at 30.7 boards a game, by a 20-16 in the first half.

One might look at the disparity in the stat-sheet between the two teams and assume Iowa State would be in a comfortable position at the break, only needing another solid half of play to secure its first Big 12 win of the year.

Instead, the game was tied 24-24 at the break.

The 29% shooting from the Jayhawks was their second-lowest of any first half this season, with the lowest output being a 26.9% first half performance against Tennessee on Jan. 30.

So what was the difference between Saturday against Iowa State and Jan. 30 against the Volunteers? Tennessee was up 14 at halftime.

“I thought we played with a lot of pride and a lot of grit in that first half,” Prohm said after his team’s 11th conference loss on Saturday.

In the first 12 minutes, Prohm saw the energy and fight he thought his team lacked on Thursday and saw Iowa State being the aggressor from the jump. They made Kansas uncomfortable, but Prohm said the defensive effort wasn’t sustained for too much longer.

Mistakes kept the Cyclones from holding a bigger lead, with Iowa State’s 15 first half turnovers giving Kansas more and more chances to stick around. 

Iowa State committed 23 turnovers in the game, tied for the most in the Steve Prohm-era.

“We’re up 24-18, but to 30-24 was a big 12-0 run for them between halves,” Prohm said. “But if you told me we were gonna hold Kansas to 64 points, well I would have been extremely, extremely pleased and knew we would have a great chance to win.”

The first half momentum seemed to be slipping away as Kansas scored six-straight to tie the game going into halftime and wasted no time out of the break to seize the slipping momentum for itself.

Iowa State’s first offensive possession of the second half was a Rasir Bolton turnover, one of the five turnovers for the junior guard, leading to a steal from Kansas’ David McCormack and then a transition layup from Christian Braun.

Kansas took a 26-24 lead and never trailed again.

Iowa State has dropped many close games this season, with the Cyclones showing similar fight for stretches. With that said, Prohm had no doubts his team’s first half defense was the best he’s seen this season.

“There’s no question about it,” Prohm said. “If we could bottle that up, shoot, we’d be 5-6 and 4-7 in the league.”

But Iowa State will need to bottle it up and sustain it, so solid first halves turn into solid games and wins. Bolton said that starts with how the team executes. 

The number of turnovers was too high and Bolton said the team has to get better at understanding assignments and the plays Prohm wants them to run.

Bolton has been scoring efficiently over his last five games, but his individual success is still coming in what Bolton called an unprecedented season on and off the court for Iowa State.

“It’s definitely been difficult,” Bolton said after the loss. “I don’t think any of us have been through a season like this before on and off the court.”