KANSAS CITY, Missouri — Walking off the floor of the Sprint Center in Kansas City, a place dubbed as ‘Hilton South,’ was a solemn affair Thursday night.

Heads were down. Faces were blank. The thousands of ISU fans who had packed the Sprint Center were filtering out. 

The Cyclones’ rein of two straight Big 12 Tournament championships was over.

No. 21 Iowa State (21-11, 10-8 Big 12) couldn’t complete the late-game comeback on Thursday, falling to No. 6 Oklahoma (24-6, 12-6 Big 12) 79-76 in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Championship.

“I’m really upset,” said forward Georges Niang. “Obviously, being in the Big 12 for four years and going on like this obviously stings, but the competition that goes on in the Big 12 is obviously special and something that I’ll miss. But this one obviously hurts and stings.”

Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield, who received his Big 12 Player of the Year award before Thursday’s game, was the biggest reason for the Sooners’ offensive success.

Hield finished the game with 39 points and was the only Sooner in double-figures for the majority of the game. He made several key shots down the stretch, thwarting any comeback the Cyclones attempted.

“When a scorer like that gets into a rhythm, it’s tough,” said guard Matt Thomas. “He was making shots and getting to the free-throw line… Obviously I think I could have done more, and as a team we could have done more, but he just kind of had it going tonight.”

Thomas and Monté Morris split the load guarding Hield, but neither was able to put a dent in his game. Hield finished 14-of-21 from the field, shooting 67 percent in the game.

While Morris knows Hield had one of his better nights of the season, he wasn’t content with how they defended him.

“We didn’t make it tough enough on him,” Morris said. “He was too comfortable out there. When a guy is that good and you give him that much rhythm with his game, can’t nobody really stop him. We should have made it a lot tougher on him at times, but we didn’t.”

Late in the second half, though, Niang decided it was time to take the game into his own hands. The senior made eight straight buckets, bringing the Cyclones within four points.

Niang finished the second half shooting 10-of-13 from the field, dropping 25 of his 31 points.

“I just really wanted to get in and try to, you know, pierce through the defense and really try to get them to over-help so I could start finding shooters and making plays and doing that,” Niang said. “They gave me lanes to the rim, so I just was going to the rim and was able to finish.”

ISU coach Steve Prohm compared Niang’s second half with Hield’s game, knowing how much the senior helped Iowa State get back into the game.

“Buddy was amazing, but Georges his second-half effort was just as good,” Prohm said. “He kind of willed us back into the game. And we just couldn’t make enough plays down the stretch to finish or to push it into overtime.”

The Cyclones will head back to Ames earlier than they planned, and will now wait for Selection Sunday this Sunday to find out where they will end up in the NCAA Tournament.

While it may take some time to shake the sting of an early exit from the tournament this team has won twice in a row, Prohm is confident that he can get them moving again.

“I’m just disappointed about tonight because obviously these guys have won here the last two years,” Prohm said. “We have such an amazing fan base that turned out, that you just feel like you’re letting so many people down when you don’t win. But I have been in this situation before, and so we just have to get ourselves ready going forward.”