Improbable is an understatement.

With 15 minutes to play, Iowa State trailed Oklahoma 48-28 with a three-game losing streak staring the team in the face. After hopes of a Big 12 title just two weeks before, Iowa State was falling fast toward the middle of the brutal Big 12 standings.

Fans were shaking their heads in the stands as the team that had been touted as Fred Hoiberg’s most talented since returning from its Sweet 16 run appeared to be falling apart before their eyes.

With the 20-point lead, Oklahoma’s Isaiah Cousins was called for a technical foul after blocking Georges Niang’s shot. That was enough for a spark.

Niang made his two free throws. Then he made a layup on the next possession, getting fouled and making the free throw.

That was enough to light a fire under Monté Morris. The sophomore point guard blocked a shot before rattling off eight straight points, assisted by Niang on each of his three shots.

The spark that had been missing in the team’s two previous losses returned in the form of an inferno. In five minutes and 36 seconds, Iowa State reeled off 22-straight points in front of a Hilton crowd that had seen three straight halves of bad basketball.

Niang drove for another lay-in to put the Cyclones up 54-52 with just over eight minutes to play as the Cyclones never looked back.

How would Hoiberg describe it?

“I don’t know, fun?” Hoiberg said. “I didn’t go in there and jump on them [at halftime], I just talked about going out and playing the right way. … Then we got our mojo [back] and our urgency defensively went through the roof.”

Iowa State (21-8, 11-6 Big 12) kept the Sooners (20-9, 11-6 Big 12) scoreless for more than six minutes while Georges Niang and Monté Morris took over, scoring 38 second half points in one of the wildest games ever at Hilton Coliseum.

Touted as the team leaders, Niang and Morris combined for only five first half points and four turnovers, leading the team to the locker room down 37-18. But after Cousins had some words for Niang, the leaders showed up again.

“When someone gets up in your face and tells you how they’re kicking your butt, you’ve got to retaliate in some way and luckily we retaliated in the right way,” Niang said. “We grinded out stops and really pushed the ball in transition and Hilton Magic just took over.”

And just in time. With March Madness looming, Iowa State started the month off perhaps with more momentum than it had lost in the week prior. It wasn’t a Naz Long 3-pointer on Senior Night as it was last season, but it was nearly as improbable.

In a season that has seen its share of ups and downs, the Cyclones are relishing the opportunity to finish the season different than it appeared it would, just as they finished the Oklahoma game.

“Definitely going to remember that we can really play with anybody,” Niang said. “If we’re down, we’re never out. I think this is a good time to really turn it up. March is the beginning of great things, so I think this is a great time.”