When Big 12 Conference play started in early January, Iowa State didn’t start the way it had planned.

Once a top-10 team, the Cyclones started out 2-3 in conference play, including back-to-back losses to Baylor and Texas. They seemed out of sync, and looked unable to play a complete game. 

Was that rock bottom?

“Man, it felt like it,” said senior Georges Niang.

But on Monday, all of the troubles of the past two weeks seemed to fade away as No. 19 Iowa State (14-4, 3-3 Big 12) defeated No. 1 Oklahoma (15-2, 4-2 Big 12), 82-77, marking Iowa State’s first win against a top-ranked team since 1957.

“I’m proud of our guys,” said ISU coach Steve Prohm. “We’ve been through a lot of adversity over the last week or so after a couple of losses. You listen to what they say and how they’re saying the right things and how they stuck together, it just shows their character. I’m proud of the way they hung together and have gotten better.”

Prohm isn’t wrong. For weeks, the Cyclones would continue to tell the media that they were fine. They were just going to stay the course. It would work out, they said. 

And while Prohm will admit that the Cyclones were at rock bottom, Niang said they have found a way to get through that stretch.

“All of us have our own goals and aspirations, but we know we need each other and this season,” Niang said. “I think the biggest thing was that after we hit rock bottom, we came together and realized that where I have flaws, Monté [Morris] has to pick me up. Where Monté has flaws, Jameel [McKay] has to pick him up, and down through the line. I think we’ve done that so far, and finally put two halves together.”

Niang is right — the Cyclones did put two nearly complete halves together against the Sooners.

The Cyclones opened up nearly even with the Sooners in the first half, with the game being tied three times and the lead changing eight times in the 20-minute period. To close out the period, though, Iowa State went on a massive 14-4 run to take the lead, 41-35.

Oklahoma battled right back into the game in the second half, but couldn’t regain a commanding lead. The Cyclones and the Sooners traded off runs, holding the other scoreless for minutes at a time during the final stretches of the game.

But it would be Morris who hit the fade-away jumper with 21 seconds left to extend Iowa State’s lead. From there, the Cyclones hit five free throws to seal the deal, completing the upset against the Sooners.

“I was able to just make the shot, and I give credit to my teammates to have the confidence in me to take that shot,” Morris said. “I’m just happy I could come through for my teammates, and I’m happy we got the win. We put two halves together, I thought, tonight.”

But Prohm said it wasn’t perfect, that there were still stretches of the game where they let Oklahoma right back into it.

But he did note that when they are focused and locked in, they can do some really good things.

“If you’re watching on TV, you probably hear the commentators talking about, ‘Iowa State is starting to figure it out a little bit,’ or, ‘Iowa State has a chance to do some really good things when they’re locked in,’” Prohm said. “I thought we really locked in. We went through a few spells again … but we had less stretches of that tonight. “