Morris helps fuel second half surge for Iowa State

AMES - The late-night shooting, extra shots after practice and self-confidence all paid dividends for Monte Morris. In turn, he gave all the credit to Coach Fred Hoiberg with a pat on the back.

'We got up a lot of shots this week and I took it hard on myself not making a few,” Morris said. 'At this level it's all confidence.”

Morris filled the stat sheet with a game-high 19 points, going 4-for-4 from long range, in No. 14 Iowa State's 79-59 win Saturday. The sophomore point guard added five assists and one turnover in 39 minutes, but his responsibilities didn't come just on the offensive end.

A matchup with Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year in WVU guard Juwan Staten tested Morris all day. Staten finished with 16 points - the only WVU player in double figures - and seven assists.

While Staten's production kept the Mountaineers (19-6, 7-5 Big 12) afloat, Hoiberg knows the Cyclones (18-6, 8-4) had the opportunity to win largely due to how Morris went toe-to-toe with him.

'Monte's not going to back down from anybody, I don't care who it is,” Hoiberg said. 'He's going to go out there and battle and scratch and claw and fight and he did a great job of that.”

A 7-2 run to end the first half gave Iowa State a four-point lead at the break, but it was the start to the second half that the Cyclones hoped to have. Iowa State used a 14-2 run during the first 6:38 of the second half, and West Virginia was unable to draw within nine points the rest of the way.

'That was one of our biggest keys on the board, coming out and trying to throw the first punch,” Morris said. 'With us having the ball that first possession, we tried to get something and tried to keep West Virginia thinking and on their heels.”

The inability to close out on defense has harmed the Cyclones in recent road trips, but Iowa State held the Mountaineers to 31 percent shooting in the second half while shooting 56.5 percent itself. Junior Jameel McKay certainly had a lot to do with the defensive effort, earning five blocks to go along with 12 points.

In addition to McKay and Morris, junior Georges Niang (11), Bryce Dejean-Jones (10) and Abdel Nader (12) all finished in double figures. Although the Cyclones turned it over 16 times against the WVU press, it was the 14 assists leading to easy buckets that erased some mistakes.

'We believed if we make the extra pass, we've got good enough players that they can make their shots,” McKay said. 'There's not one player that you can just game plan on and say, ‘If you can stop them, you can beat Iowa State.'”

Naz Long played just 12 minutes due to a hip-pointer, but the bench picked up some of the lost production. Iowa State used 32 bench points, with 26 coming from Dejean-Jones and Nader alone.

The 10 combined rebounds from Nader and Dejean-Jones, plus a timely 3-pointer and driving layup from Matt Thomas, who finished with six points, all left Hoiberg feeling good about his team heading into a two-game stint on the road.

'Everybody that went into the game,” Hoiberg said, 'made a positive impact.”

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