ISU stays perfect at home with Prairie View A&M rout
AMES — With the memory of the week's earlier Cy-Hawk blowout win still lingering at Hilton Coliseum and the prospect of final exams and a holiday break on the horizon, focus, energy and precision were not always in the “On” position for the Iowa State men's basketball team Sunday.
It didn't matter in the slightest. The Cyclones claimed a 107-56 victory over Prairie View A&M in a game that was rarely pretty but nearly always in Iowa State's control.
Iowa State (8-2) actually trailed the Panthers (4-4) in the early going before taking the lead for good at the 12-minute mark of the first half, and a subsequent 33-13 run pushed the lead to as many as 20 before halftime.
It only got more lopsided from there as the Cyclones flexed their high-major muscles throughout the second half.
“I was pleased in the second half with the effort and intent we had defensively,” Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “It was choppy. We didn't do the best at the start adapting to that, but I was really pleased with the effort in the second half.”
The Cyclones got a combined 39 points from their backcourt duo of Tamin Lipsey (19) and Keshon Gilbert (20), who also tallied eight rebounds, eight assists and eight turnovers.
Lipsey set the Iowa State singlegame record with eight steals, breaking a record of seven set by Fred Hoiberg (1991) and Justus Thigpen (1993).
Curtis Jones scored 22 points while Milan Momcilovic tallied 15 points and eight rebounds for the Cyclones.
Prairie View A&M shot 33.3 percent from the floor and committed 29 turnovers.
Iowa State is now 6-0 at home. The schedule now pauses for finals week with the Cyclones returning to Hilton vs. Florida A&M on Sunday, Dec. 17, at 5 p.m. The game will be broadcast by ESPN+.
Curtis Jones heats up
One of the absolute priorities for Iowa State over the offseason was to add a significant amount of outside shooting to the roster after spending the previous two seasons severely lacking in that category.
Curtis Jones fit the bill, having shot north of 35 percent from distance in two seasons at Buffalo, but his shot did not appear to make the moves to Ames in the season's first games. The Twin Cities native entered Sunday shooting 23.9 percent from 3-point range. That tide, though, may be turning. Jones went 6 of 8 from distance against the Panthers to make him 8 of 12 (67 percent) over the last three games, raising his overall season percentage to 31.4 percent.
“It felt great getting into a rhythm,” Jones said. “Tamin got me a bucket early with a skip pass, an easy three, so that felt really good and that got me going for the rest of the game.”
While Jones' 3-point resurgence remains a small sample size, his track record suggests he's much closer to the above-average shooter he's been over the last 10 days rather than the sub-par one he was to start the season.
The Cyclones haven't this season been the abysmal 3-point shooting team they were the previous two seasons, but they've still struggled to
crack “average,” shooting 33.9 percent as a team coming into the day.
“When things aren't going your way, for all of us, you've got to look at your habits,” Otzelberger said, “and (Jones has) continued to do extra conditioning, get extra shooting in, be committed to his workout.
“You could just see a poise and a confidence when he was letting that thing go. He wasn't thinking about it. He wasn't aiming it. He was just being him. He's a weapon for us.”
Getting Jones' jumper to stabilize him as a mid-30-plus shooter gives the Cyclones a very important asset and potential weapon its offense will no doubt need to call upon when defensive pressure ramps up in Big 12 play next month.
“We have no doubt that he can do that every game,” Lipsey said. “We see that every day in practice. We've seen it since the summer.
“It's going to happen multiple games this season. You're going to see it often. We know he can shoot the ball.”
Kayden Fish sits, Tre King aching
Iowa State freshman Kayden Fish sat out Sunday's victory with a shoulder injury.
The 6-foot-6, 250-pounder from Kansas City has appeared in four games this season for Iowa State, though none since Nov. 19. He averaged 1.5 points and 1.5 rebounds in his limited action.
While Fish has not been part of the rotation, it does represent a further short-term erosion of Iowa State's frontcourt depth with starter Hason Ward already sidelined. Ward is expected to be out until January after undergoing surgery on his foot last month.
Potentially further complicating matters is that starter Tre King is battling some back issues, though that didn't stop him from recording seven points and four rebounds in 11 minutes Sunday.
“His back was bothering him in warmups, and as a leader he wanted to give it a go,” Otzelberger said. “Now fortunate to have some time to get him some rest and some recovery.
“When guys show they want to get out there even when they're not at their best, it sets the tone for others to make sure we're all doing that sort of thing.”