It was fear and loathing in Iowa City on Dec. 12 as No. 14 Iowa State turned the Cy-Hawk series into a surreal scene for the favored Iowa Hawkeyes.

Many ISU fans took to social media at least questioning, if not fearing the matchup, as their team was undermanned, undersized and as it turned out, underestimated. The Cyclones were forced to plunge head first into the teeth of a raucous Carver-Hawkeye Arena minus the services of both redshirt junior Jameel McKay and recently suspended senior, Bryce Dejean-Jones.

Yet it was the Hawkeye fans who migrated in droves out of the venue, many of them several minutes before the final horn, loathing the Cyclones at the game’s conclusion. In a result that deviated by more than 20 points from professional prognostications, Iowa State pummeled the Hawkeyes 90-75.

The black and gold faithful harbored a particularly potent vitriol for junior Georges Niang, who left the shocked and angered crowd with a parting gift in the final minutes of the game.

A kiss.

Niang blew the crowd a smooch as a chorus of boos rained down on him from every corner of Carver-Hawkeye. Iowa State’s leader reveled in the hatred of thousands of rival fans.

“They heckle us on Twitter [and] in the crowd, and so the reason I blew the kiss was just to say ‘I appreciate you guys doing that and we are going to head out of here,'” Niang said.

Circumstances were not always so cheerful for Niang, who began the evening shooting 1-of-9 before ultimately coming on strong in the second half to finish the night with 16 points, seven assists and six rebounds.

The game remained essentially neck and neck throughout the opening 20 minutes. Iowa State carried a 38-33 lead into the locker room after a late block by point guard Monte Morris on Iowa’s Mike Gesell led to a run out for sophomore Matt Thomas, who buried a three-pointer at the buzzer to close the opening half.

Thomas’ shot was an ominous thunderhead of momentum that served as foreshadowing for the perfect storm that commenced raging almost immediately after the start of the second half.

For the Hawkeyes, that storm was a blizzard. They went ice cold from the field to begin the second in addition to carelessly fumbling with the basketball and making ill-advised passes.

The Iowa defense was also lackluster to say the least, as it allowed open threes and easy transition buckets, which helped Iowa State put up 90 on an Iowa team that had been previously allowing 54.9 points per contest.

For Iowa State, the storm was fittingly a cyclone—a dangerous whirlwind of forced turnovers, fast-breaks and three-point splashes, which when combined with Iowa’s shooting struggles spelled the end for the Hawkeyes in the Cy-Hawk series for the second year in a row.

The Cyclones drained ten consecutive shots after missing their first attempt of the stanza, but ISU men’s basketball coach Fred Hoiberg said it was his team’s often overlooked defense that served as the catalyst to the 21-2 run that put the game out of reach.

“I think the big thing was that we got deflections. We talked about getting your hands up to disrupt timing,” Hoiberg said. “Something as simple as getting your hands up, getting a deflection and getting those run outs…when you make a layup, it leads to confidence for your jump shot.”

Iowa State (7-1, 0-0 Big 12) knew it would need to shoot well against Iowa (8-3, 0-0 Big 10) to stand a legitimate chance of winning on the road.

The Cyclones did just that, hitting on 53.1 percent from the field, including 44.4 percent from behind the arc.

Answering the call offensively was junior Naz Long, who said before the game that he knew he would be called upon early and often to cover the 17.1 points per game gap left in the suspended Dejean-Jones’ stead.

Long did more than his share, pouring in 21 points on 5-of-9 shooting from beyond the three-point line to go along with six rebounds and five assists.

“I can say that I have been waiting for this game for two years. This is arguably my favorite game of the year,” Long said. “This [win] defined us. It really showed character.”

Long added that senior Dustin Hogue’s character was also defined specifically on Friday night along with the team’s.

Hogue, the self-proclaimed NCAA leader in the fictional statistical category of “rebound-assists,” which he achieves by blocking out and opening up rebounding opportunities for his teammates, had struggled on the glass through the first seven games of the season, nabbing only 3.1 rebounds per contest.

Iowa State won the battle of the boards 39-37, as Hogue led the way despite being more than four inches shorter than all of his Hawkeye counterparts.

“The thing I talked to our guys about was rebounding the basketball and if we could rebound that would lead to some run out opportunities,” Hoiberg said. “I talked about our hands. We got a lot of deflections that helped us open up a little bit of a lead.”

When his team needed him the most, the real Hogue stood up and claimed 13 rebounds to match his 13 points.

“That is who Dustin is,” Long said. “We are going to see a lot more of that. No one is surprised because everybody knows what type of animal he is.”

Iowa State will get one day off before returning to the court against Sourthern in Hilton Coliseum on Dec. 14. Tip off is set for 5:00 p.m.