ISU's Georges Niang not done climbing

DENVER — Georges Niang doesn't want to think about the end.

He pays no attention to the notion that every game he plays from here on out could be his last. The Iowa State senior forward puts his thoughts and energy into something a little more pure and simplistic.

'I think about playing the game that I love,' Niang said.

Niang will become the leader in career games played for Iowa State (136) when the fourth-seeded Cyclones take on 13th-seeded Iona in the NCAA tournament first round Thursday at 1 p.m. (TBS).

Notebook: Iona's A.J. English has all the tools

He is third on the all-time scoring list (2,142), already owns the record for most wins (96) in school history and is the first player to play in four NCAA tournaments. He's turned a blind eye to some of those numbers in pursuit of something bigger.

'I didn't know that,' Niang said of becoming the first ISU player to compete in four NCAA tournaments. 'I try to stay away from all you gurus. I think that's super cool. I hold myself to a high standard and everyone who has coached me here has done the same. That's sort of the expected.'

All of the wins and on-court success might be an expectation Niang placed on himself and his team a long time ago, but the NCAA tournament heartbreak is the one thing that hasn't been anticipated. And there's been plenty of it — with Niang at the center of it all.

Iowa State came within a last-second 3-pointer from Aaron Craft — over the top of the then-freshman Niang — in 2013 that would have sent it past Ohio State and onto the Sweet Sixteen. There was his broken foot against North Carolina Central that forced him to sit out of a Sweet Sixteen run that ended at the hands of the eventual champion Connecticut.

A first-round loss to UAB his junior season gave Niang a rude awakening that his senior season would be his last chance to fulfill any of his unrealized dreams. Lessons of early exits have him as sharp as he's ever been.

'You've got to have a confidence about you, a swagger about you that you're not just going to let something that happened before happen again,' Niang said. 'That should be with everything in your power and will to not let that happen.

'Iona is a real great team. I've watched them a ton on TV against Monmouth, Fairfield, St. Peters. You name it; I've watched them just because I have a personal interest with being on A.J.'s (English) team this summer. They're a really great team.'

Iowa State Coach Steve Prohm knows the challenges mid-major opponents present in the NCAA Tournament. His 30-1 Murray State squad beat Colorado State in the 2012 tournament before getting bounced by Marquette in the second round.

Prohm was an assistant with Texas A&M coach Billy Kennedy at Murray State in 2010 when the 13th-seed Racers beat fourth-seeded Vanderbilt to advance to the second round before bowing out to Butler.

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Iona is 22-6 and on an eight-game winning streak that includes a conference tournament title.

'When you're winning 25, 26 or 27 (straight games), you're extremely confident,' Prohm said. 'That was a little different (at Murray State), but when you're winning that many games, you're going to go against a team that's confident and think they can win. That's why we've got to be good right from the gate and put doubt in their mind right away.'

Niang isn't thinking about the last second 3-pointer, broken foot or debacle against UAB as the Gaels await his Cyclones. All he's thinking about his checking a few more boxes off his college basketball to-do list.

'You don't come in here and work as you do to not play in anything but the NCAA tournament,' Niang said. 'I think that's one goal I've reached. I don't think I'm done climbing.'

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