No. 3 Iowa State found itself on the ropes on the road once again, but behind a career-high 33 points from senior guard Curtis Jones, the Cyclones pulled away to defeat Arizona State 76-61 Saturday.

Cyclones survive another slow start on the road

Following the win, Iowa State moved to an impressive 17-2 record overall and 7-1 in the Big 12, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t things to be concerned about. The concern that jumps out most is the ongoing trend of slow starts when playing away from Hilton Coliseum. 

In the five true road games that the Cyclones have played, they’ve only led at halftime once, which was in a victory over Colorado. 

In the other four true road games, against Iowa, Texas Tech, West Virginia and now Arizona State, Iowa State on average found itself down five points when heading into the locker room. 

This trend continued in Saturday afternoon’s game, as the Cyclones found themselves down by seven at halftime.

The Cyclones played decently on offense in the first half. They scored 33 points while shooting 43.5% from the field, 40% from 3-point range and 75% from the free throw line.

Where Iowa State primarily struggled was on defense. 

The Cyclones were able to generate turnovers, forcing seven in the first half, but they struggled contesting shots.

The Sun Devils shot 56% from the field and 50% from 3-point range in the first half. Leading the way was 17-year old freshman forward Jayden Quaintance. Quaintance scored nine first half points after going 3-for-3 from the field and 1-for-1 from 3-point range. 

Iowa State’s struggles didn’t disappear when it came out of the locker room for the second half. 

For the first 10 minutes of the second half, Iowa State continued to hang around and were never able to get in front, no matter how close it got. 

Finally, with just over nine minutes left in the game, the Cyclones took back the lead.

The Cyclones have consistently struggled getting going on the road, and while it hasn’t caused them too many problems record wise, it will be something they will have to continue to improve upon.

Iowa State dominates final five minutes

After a back-and-forth five minutes that saw the lead change multiple times, Iowa State took a timeout with 5:23 left in the game, trailing Arizona State by one. 

Coming out of the timeout, junior guard Demarion Watson slammed home a dunk to give the Cyclones a one-point lead, and they never looked back.

Following the dunk, senior guard Keshon Gilbert came down the floor and nailed a 3-pointer to extend Iowa State’s lead to four. All of a sudden, the rout was on. 

The Cyclones were firing on all cylinders offensively to end the game. They did not miss a single field goal attempt in the final five minutes, going 5-for-5 from the field, 2-for-2 from 3-point range, as well as 7-for-8 from the free throw line.

On the other hand, the Sun Devils’ offense fell apart in the final five minutes. They turned the ball over three times and made just one shot, scoring only three points in crunch time. 

Saturday’s game followed an eerily similar formula to the Cy-Hawk game in Iowa City. In both games, Iowa State trailed by seven points at halftime and struggled to get over the hump in the second half. 

But just like that Cy-Hawk game, Iowa State went on to dominate the game when it mattered most, by making up for when the majority of the game was tightly contested, to finish like a blowout. 

Jones scores a career-high 33 points

The catalyst in Iowa State’s come from behind victory came once again from Jones.

Coming into Saturday’s game, Jones averaged a team-high 17.8 points per game while shooting 46.8% from the field and 39.5% from 3-point range.

Jones, the Big 12’s second leading scorer, has been on a tear as of late. 

Before Saturday’s game, the senior guard had been averaging 22.2 points per game, while shooting 51.4% from the field and 42.8% from 3-point range over his last five games.

Jones followed up that stretch of games with arguably his best performance of the season, and maybe the best of his career. 

Jones scored a career-high 33 points, while shooting 45.5% from the field and 50% from 3-point range along with grabbing seven rebounds, while being the only Cyclone to play all 40 minutes of the game. 

Jones was the one who put the finishing touches on Iowa State’s victory, scoring the team’s final five points of the game.

During this stretch of games, Jones has cemented himself as one of the best guards not only in the Big 12, but in the entire country.