Creating mismatches for ISU

AMES - There were two keys that Fred Hoiberg pointed out for Iowa State to be successful against TCU. He wanted to see his guys control the glass and extend a lead when they did.

The Cyclones did both and ran away with the game Saturday at Hilton Coliseum.

No. 15 Iowa State beat TCU, 83-66, getting the Cyclones their first double-digit victory in Big 12 play. Junior Georges Niang scored 17 of his 23 points in the second half and added eight rebounds and three assists.

'I feel like I'm getting in a good rhythm,” Niang said. 'The guys are doing a really great job of finding me in spots where I can really be effective.”

Sure, the Cyclones (16-4, 6-2) like to share the ball, but Niang can do a lot on the block because of his fundamentally sound technique. He finished 8-of-15 shooting and was 6 for 7 from the free-throw line.

During the last two games, Niang has combined to go 15-of-28 shooting with 42 points and has played 68 of a possible 80 minutes.

'Boy, he made some tough ones tonight,” Hoiberg said. 'Spinning, right hand, left hand, hitting 3s, he just did it all tonight.”

'Niang is a really, really good college basketball player,” said TCU Coach Trent Johnson. 'If there's a better college basketball player in the country, I want to see him, in terms of being complete and catching, passing and shooting and taking advantage of mismatches.”

In a three-point loss Wednesday at Kansas, the Horned Frogs (14-7, 1-7) out-rebounded the Jayhawks 50-40 and collected 26 offensive rebounds. That number plummeted against Iowa State. The Cyclones had a 44-30 edge on the glass and allowed 12 offensive rebounds.

Iowa State committed 13 turnovers to six by TCU, but a 10-2 run in the first four minutes of the second half kept the Horned Frogs from getting within single-digits.

'We made it hard on ourselves in the locker room and we came out and did the job and kept our foot on the pedal,” said sophomore Monte Morris, who finished with 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting with six assists.

'I thought we played much smarter in the second half,” Hoiberg said. 'We were playing stupid in the first half trying to squeeze passes into small spaces. Our spacing on the break was brutal and the second half was much better all across the board.”

l Comments: montzdylan@gmail.com