No. 2 Iowa State suffered its first Big 12 loss of the season 64-57 on the road against West Virginia Saturday.

Plagued by poor outside shooting, the Cyclones could not get a bucket when they needed one most, which ultimately led to their loss. Iowa State’s winning streak ends at 12 games, as the Cyclones now sit 15-2 overall and 5-1 in the Big 12.

West Virginia’s Javon Small was the biggest difference maker for the Mountaineers, with a team-high 27 points. A few of his baskets came at critical points of the game, either beating the shot clock or by slicing his way through Cyclone defenders.

Lids on the baskets

Iowa State started the game cold. The Cyclones had three turnovers, shot 0-for-4 and were down 6-0 in the opening four-and-a-half minutes.

Soon after, the Cyclones arrived. Over the next three minutes, Iowa State went on an 11-0 run to not only get back in the game, but take the lead.

Four Cyclones contributed to the run, including five points from senior guard Curtis Jones. 

The bounce-back run quieted the rowdy West Virginia crowd, one that is notorious for being one of the louder, tougher ones in the Big 12.

Iowa State strung its run out to a 15-3 run over the course of nearly eight minutes. In a bit of an oddity, Iowa State had a three-minute drought within the run, while West Virginia was held scoreless for five minutes.

All of this transpired until just after the under eight minute media timeout. 

In that same amount of time, Iowa State did not hit a 3-pointer. The Cyclones went 0-for-11 from deep in the first half.

On the other hand, it was West Virginia’s late 3’s that kept it alive. The Mountaineers were 5-for-14 from 3-point range.

In the final three minutes of the half, West Virginia used a 10-3 run to take a 25-24 lead into halftime. Iowa State shot 41% from the floor and West Virginia shot 32% in the opening 20 minutes.

Can’t stop Jones

After the injury sustained to sophomore forward Milan Momcilovic, Jones found himself in the starting lineup for the second straight game. Once again, Jones led Iowa State in scoring. 

The senior guard did it with 18 points on 8-of-16 shooting. Jones was also the only Cyclone to make a 3-pointer in the game, when there was just 13 minutes remaining on the clock.

As a squad, Iowa State finished with its worst 3-point percentage of the season at 6% (1-of-17). By himself, Jones was 1-for-6.

This marks the 580th straight game Iowa State has made at least one 3-pointer in a game. It’s also the 14th game this season that Jones has scored in double figures.

No matter what any defense throws at the Cyclones, Jones always seems to get shots to fall. Much like in games prior to this one, he was leaned on heavily to provide a spark and any points at all throughout parts of the game.

Jefferson plays clean-up crew

For the eighth time this season, junior forward Joshua Jefferson finished with a double-double.

Jefferson did it with 10 points and 10 rebounds, eight of which came on the defensive end. To get his points, Jefferson battled inside, where eight of his points came from. The other two were from his only two free throw attempts.

When he was open outside, Jefferson let a few 3-pointers fly. But, just like guards Tamin Lipsey and Keshon Gilbert, Jefferson was 0-for-3 from deep.

Jefferson was the one who tried to spark the Cyclones in the second half, as he scored the first three baskets for Iowa State. 

As Big 12 play rolls on, Jefferson will be relied upon each and every game to be a presence on both sides of the ball.