Monte Morris’ big night highlights Iowa State’s 113-71 season-opening win

AMES - Steve Prohm doesn't typically look at the stat sheets that float through the bench during games. On this night, he made an exception.

During the last media timeout and his team up 37 points in its season opener, the second-year Iowa State men's basketball coach decided to take a peek at the stat line of his senior point guard.

Monte Morris had a not-so-quiet night.

'I saw 11 assists and zero turnovers and I was like, ‘Man, that kid is something,'” Prohm said following No. 24 Iowa State's 113-71 win against Savannah State Friday night. 'It always happens. And then 9-for-11 (shooting).”

Morris had 21 points, 11 assists three steals and zero turnovers in just 26 minutes. He started the a perfect 5-for-5 from the field, including two 3-pointers, and helped dictate a Cyclones (1-0) offense that tallied 96 possessions by night's end.

The only pressure Morris feels is to produce as much as he does in practice as he does in games.

'If we do that when nobody's looking and with no cameras, when the light is on and the camera is on then it'll take care of itself,” he said.

Guard Naz Mitrou-Long, in his first official game since early last season, had 18 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. Shooting guard Matt Thomas had 14 points and six rebounds.

'I'm not surprised in a sense where I expect that out of him,” Mitrou-Long said of Morris. 'When he has the ball in his hands, everybody's confident and he has to make the plays for us. He definitely did that tonight and we've just got to go and do it again.”

Defense has been - and will continue to be - the point of emphasis for Iowa State, but some pressure on the perimeter and a dominant night on the glass gave Prohm's group a good first outing.

Savannah State was able to poke holes in the perimeter at times and had 13 3-pointers, but shot just 32.9 percent from the field and had just 10 offensive rebounds on 51 misses. A lot of that had to do with what Iowa State's new-look front court was able to do on the glass.

Iowa State outrebounded the Tigers (0-1) 62-36, and forward Merrill Holden had 12 points and five boards for the Cyclones. Darrell Bowie had eight points and 10 rebounds in 16 minutes.

Freshman forward Solomon Young helped widen the gap in the second half with 11 points of a 13-0 run to help Iowa State to an 89-56 advantage. All of his points came in his six second-half minutes.

'That's always been part of my game,” Young said of his efficiency. 'I think the coaches didn't really recognize it at first because I didn't really have the confidence to do it right away. But I went back to it.”

Savannah State plays at Iowa at 2:30 p.m. Sunday.

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