Iowa State's offense stagnant as winning streak against Iowa ends

IOWA CITY — The Iowa State men's basketball team has made a recent habit of falling behind early when it plays in-state rival Iowa.

The Cyclones finally came face-to-face with a hole they couldn't climb out of as their uncharacteristic offensive struggles resurfaced.

'We didn't run any offense like we usually do,' said forward Deonte Burton. 'It was nonexistent.

'I couldn't tell you (why). I wish I knew.'

Iowa downed No. 25 Iowa State 78-64 on Thursday night, breaking the Cyclones' (6-3) three-game winning streak in the series.

Where the Hawkeyes (5-5) succeeded the most, besides Peter Jok's game-high 23 points and nine rebounds, was how they were able to pick apart Iowa State's transition defense. Iowa shot nearly 60 percent in the first half and had an 11-0 advantage in fast break points, growing its lead to 15 at halftime.

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The teams traded buckets through the first several minutes and Iowa had a 13-12 lead at the first media timeout, but came back out hot. The Hawkeyes went on a 10-0 run with five of those points coming from running out after a missed shot and an ISU turnover.

'We lost that game in the first half giving up 44 points,' said Iowa State coach Steve Prohm. 'We made great growth defensively and we were bad in the first half tonight. It affected all areas of the game.'

Any flaws that Iowa State's defense showed paled in comparison to what its offense did. Similar to how ball movement was stagnant in a home loss to Cincinnati, the Cyclones weren't swinging the ball around the perimeter and managed just nine assists on 25 baskets with 11 turnovers.

Iowa State trimmed the Iowa lead to as few as seven midway through the second half, but the Cyclones went on to miss their next two 3-pointers then committed a foul and turnover to help the Hawkeyes balloon the lead back to 14.

'We have a lot of weapons and we've just got to use them,' said Naz Mitrou-Long. 'We've got to keep the ball flowing, but again, that's not on anybody but the players on the court. We've got to take pride in that.

'If this doesn't slap us in the face nothing will. It definitely did. Guys feel it in there. I think down the road it will be a good thing.'

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Missed layups, which ended up being about a dozen, also didn't help any comeback efforts. Iowa State shot 35.7 percent from the field and was a meager 8-for-30 from 3-point range. Matt Thomas led the team with 14 points while Burton, Mitrou-Long, Monte Morris and Nick Weiler-Babb had 10 apiece.

'I was 4-for-15 and we were missing layups,' Morris said. 'I was missing layups myself. It was the same shots we're taking every day. Nobody complains when they go in. It's the same shots we're going to keep taking and we've just got to make them.

'I'm not really tripping. I'm hurt we lost. We gave up transition defense. It's something we haven't been doing and we've just got to go back to the drawing board.'

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