Iowa State appeared to suffer from emotional jet lag against Southern on Dec. 14, less than 48 hours after an impassioned 90-75 win over Iowa in Iowa City.

That jet lag manifested itself as a hangover of sorts and plagued the Cyclones for much of the opening half versus the Jaguars despite the re-integration of senior Bryce Dejean-Jones, who returned to an active status after serving a one-game suspension.

It took nearly 17 minutes for Iowa State to gain its first lead against a scrappy Southern team, but once the Cyclones grasped the advantage in their clutches, they refused to relinquish it for the remainder of the contest.

The ISU basketball team (8-1, 0-0 Big 12) defeated Southern (2-8, 0-0 Southwestern Athletic Conference) 88-78.

The Cyclones dug an interesting hole for themselves early as the Jaguars earned an advantage rarely seen in college basketball.

Southern led 2-0 before the game even started after being awarded two free throws via a technical foul called on Iowa State for dunking in pregame warm-ups.The Jaguars then connected on their first three shots to extend a 10-2 lead less than two minutes into the game.

Iowa State reverted to selfish play for the first time since the loss against Maryland after shooting woes plagued the home team throughout the first half.

Iowa State connected on only 1-for-9 from long range in the opening 20 minutes, its saving grace coming in the form of an 11-for-11 performance from the free throw stripe.

The Cyclones had averaged 21 assists per contest since mustering only eight against the Terps in Kansas City, Mo., but had only three dimes more than 16 minutes into the game.

Iowa State also failed to rebound the ball effectively early on or force many turnovers, which slowed the ISU pace by forcing half-court offense in loo of run-out opportunities.

An uptick in defensive energy, sharing the ball and shooting percentage allowed Iowa State to close the gap late and take a 42-35 lead into halftime.

That effort continued in the second half as Iowa State held Southern to nine points through the first 10 minutes of the period, all but securing the win.

Southern made a late run to cut the lead to 10 with two minutes remaining, but could not erase the lead Iowa State had amassed.

Junior Georges Niang and Dejean-Jones led the way for the Cyclones offensively, scoring 18 points each.