Kansas took a 39-34 lead at halftime and never looked back as the Jayhawks kept the lead the entire second half. That resulted in an 83-77 win for No. 13 Kansas at Hilton Coliseum on Tuesday night.

Even though Iowa State took the loss, coach Steve Prohm was happy with some of the aspects of the game, but found a few key factors that the Cyclones need to work on for the last five regular season games. 

Here’s the three takeaways from the Cyclones’ loss against the Jayhawks. 

Scoring all around

It was a game of double-digit performances for both Iowa State and Kansas as each team had five players scoring 10 or more points tonight.

Kansas had Udoka Azubuike (19), Malik Newman (17), Lagerald Vick (16), Devonte’ Graham (13) and Svi Mykhailiuk (10) all in double digits tonight. The five combined for 75 of the 83 points for the Jayhawks, which equals 90.3 percent of the total points.

Iowa State finished with Cameron Lard (19), Zoran Talley Jr. (15), Nick Weiler-Babb (14), Lindell Wigginton (12) and Solomon Young (12) in double digits. Those five combined for 72 of the 77 Cyclones’ points equaling 93.5 percent of total points.

The Cyclones did a nice job sharing the ball and finding the open player throughout the game, but the Jayhawks did the exact same, which resulted in the loss for Iowa State.

“Everybody in this game was a big factor,” Weiler-Babb said on Kansas’ roster. “They’re Division I players at Kansas for a reason.”

Prohm was happy with Talley Jr.’s performance tonight with 15 points and two rebounds in 36 minutes of play. Talley Jr. stayed in the starting lineup tonight even though Weiler-Babb returned from his injury.

Prohm likes how Talley Jr. has come back from his injury during the non-conference season and how he’s developed during the Big 12 season.

“He’s been really good for us the last couple of weeks,” Prohm said. “I like him better out there at the three than the four… I think he’s getting his feel.”

Nick Weiler-Babb shined in his return

Weiler-Babb hasn’t been on the floor for Iowa State since Jan. 27 when the Cyclones lost to Tennessee at home. He made his return to the floor for the first time tonight and displayed a good showing in the eyes of Prohm.

The redshirt junior guard shot 5-for-7 from the field with 14 points along with eight rebounds and five assists. He did all of this in 22 minutes.

Weiler-Babb said he felt good and would’ve told Prohm if he was hesitant, but he thought the knee was working well. He decided to keep himself in the game.

Prohm held him on the bench for most of the first half until he needed him to come onto the floor at the 9:01 mark in the first. He found the open teammates and found his own shots quickly after settling into the point guard position again.

“I thought he did a good job,” Prohm said. “We were going to wait until we thought we needed him and we thought we needed him [at the 9:01 mark].”

Even with a performance similar to his season statistics, Weiler-Babb was mad that he wasn’t able to get the win against Kansas.

“I didn’t play well enough. We lost,” Weiler-Babb said. “I take full responsibility as a point guard.”

Iowa State focused on passing tonight

Prohm has told the media throughout the season that he wants 60 percent of Iowa State’s field goals in a game to come from assists.

The Cyclones almost reached that goal tonight.

The Cyclones had 16 assists on 29 made field goals, equaling 55.2 percent of the field goals coming from assists. Prohm liked the effort of using the passing game to find that open teammate and connecting on the assist. Now, he wants more.

Weiler-Babb and Wigginton led Iowa State with five assists each and Jackson was right behind them with three assists.

“More free throws, more free throw attempts, more offensive rebounds, rebounds, more assists,” Prohm said on what Iowa State beat Kansas on regarding the stat sheet. “We turned it over and the 3-point line [as Kansas shot more and made more 3-pointers], at the end of the day.”

If Iowa State wants to be successful with the last five games of the regular season, the Cyclones will need to focus on that 60 percent number for each game.