The Lowdown

It wasn’t pretty. In fact, it was pretty ugly at first. But the old coaching cliché remains: A win is a win. And an ugly win is better than an ugly loss. Especially when an ugly first half turns into a pretty solid second half.

The Cyclones (15-7, 6-5 Big 12) were able to overcome their first-half difficulties with a solid second half as they eventually rolled to a 61-43 victory against West Virginia (14-9, 4-7 Big 12).

Both teams struggled to get into any kind of offensive rhythm in the first half. West Virginia was the first team to get on the board, but it took them nearly three-and-a-half minutes to do so.

The Cyclones finally put the ball through the hoop, but not until the under-16 minute TV timeout had already passed. The offensive production picked up slightly, but the pace of play remained slow and the quality of play was sloppy.

The two teams combined for 17 first-half turnovers. Fortunately for the Cyclones, the team shot 41.7 percent from the field compared to West Virginia’s 24.1 percent shooting in the first half.

The disparity in shooting percentages allowed the Cyclones to build up a 25-20 lead at the half.

The second half started much better for the Cyclones and somehow even worse for the Mountaineers. Iowa State rattled off the first 10 points of the half, while it took West Virginia nearly seven minutes to score their first points of the second half.

The Cyclones were able to maintain that high level of play throughout the second half and made it look easy. They offense clicked to the tune of 36 second-half points, while West Virginia only posted 23 second-half points.

The dominating start to the second-half allowed the Cyclones to cruise the final 10 minutes of the game or so. The win snapped the Cyclones’ previous three-game losing streak.

X-Factor

Fallon Ellis may have only scored 11 points in the game, but they were crucial. Ellis scored all 11 of her points in the first half when the rest of the ISU offense was struggling pretty heavily.

Ellis’ first-half play kept the struggling Cyclones in the game until ISU coach Bill Fennelly was able to make the necessary half-time adjustments that allowed the Cyclones to run away with the game in the second half.

Up Next

The Cyclones will head to Lubbock, Texas, for their first showdown of the season against Texas Tech (13-9, 3-7 Big 12). The matchup is slated to tip off at 7 p.m.Feb. 11.