AMES — After a shaky start to the game, No. 3 Iowa State went on a 21-3 run to end the first half, which propelled it to an 82-59 victory over Utah Tuesday night.
While the game may have ended in a 23-point victory for Iowa State, it didn’t come without a fight from the Utes.
The Cyclones started the game on fire. They made five out of their first seven field goals and jumped out to a 15-7 lead just over five minutes into the game.
However, Utah didn’t roll over. After falling down eight, the Utes stormed back, going on a 15-2 run to take a 22-17 lead over Iowa State.
Finally, after nearly five minutes of game time, senior guard Keshon Gilbert hit a 3-pointer to end the scoring drought and cut Utah’s lead to two points.
From there, the Cyclones went on a big run of their own.
Iowa State would go on a 21-3 run in the final eight minutes of the first half to go into the locker room up 13 after trailing by five.
“There’s 10 four-minute games and we want to work to win every round,” Iowa State head coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “We had lost a couple there, and it’s really important that we dial in and finish the half the right way, and so that was really the message.”
“They ramped it up, they cranked it up, the crowd got into it,” Utah head coach Craig Smith said.
Where the Cyclones found the most success was on the defensive side of the ball. The Utes were 8-for-19 from the field when they took a five-point lead but went just 1-for-10 in the final nine minutes of the first half.
Iowa State didn’t just do a good job of contesting shots, it also did a good job of forcing turnovers. Over the course of the 21-3 run, the Cyclones forced eight Utah turnovers, with many of those turnovers leading directly to points.
“When you give up 25 points after your turnovers that’s really difficult to overcome,” Smith said.
“The defense plays a big part in getting us out and running in transition,” Iowa State senior guard Curtis Jones said.
On the offensive side of the ball, the Cyclones shot 50% from the field in the final eight minutes after shooting just 39% to start the game.
Jones led the way for the Cyclones offensively, scoring 23 points and dishing out a team-high and season-high six assists in 32 minutes off the bench.
Jones shot 10-for-17 from the field and 3-for-7 from 3-point range.
“Every time [Jones] shot one of those floaters or pull-ups, I thought it was going in,” senior guard Tamin Lipsey said. “I think I’m more confident in his shot than he is.”
“To have that as a weapon coming off the bench, you know, we’re really fortunate,” Otzelberger said.
Lipsey wasn’t far behind. The junior guard scored 20 points, which tied his season high, which was set against Morgan State. Lipsey did a lot of his damage from the free throw line, going 11-of-14.
“I was super aggressive,” Lipsey said. “[Otzelberger] has been telling me to play through the pain, just trust it and obviously I got to the line a lot.”
Through the first three games of conference play, Iowa State is 3-0.
But, it will have to continue to work on playing a full 40 minutes of high-level basketball as the schedule continues to ramp up.
“After the first eight minutes or so, there was a six to eight-minute stretch where we’re not focused and we needed to get locked back in,” Otzelberger said. “Happy that we were able to do that, but as we move forward, we can’t put ourselves in those positions.”
