Media day notes: Hoiberg zings and praises Niang, downgrades his golf game

 By Rob Gray

 Correspondent

 AMES - Iowa State sophomore Georges Niang is bigger and stronger than he was a year ago.

But ...

“He's still no Mr. Olympia,” Cyclone coach Fred Hoiberg joked during Thursday's media day.

That's a good one, Niang - who made the Big 12‘s all-rookie team last season - said.

“I heard that,” he noted. “He's a funny guy. He always has some good one-liners.”

But seriously, Niang worked hard last season to build a strength and conditioning foundation.

The 6-7, 245-pounder's voluminous old-school skill set was already firmly entrenched.

As a prep at The Tilton (N.H.) School, Niang more than held his own against then-teammate and 2013 NBA Draft lottery pick Nerlens Noel during practices.

In his first season at ISU, he shot 51.5 percent from the field, 39.2 percent from 3-point range and rose up in big games.

Niang tied a career high with 19 points in the loss to Kansas in the Big 12 Tournament.

He matched that total in the second-round NCAA Tournament win over Notre Dame.

“He plays with a chip on his shoulder,” Hoiberg said. “I think he's always been an under-ranked player. And again this year - you didn't see him on any of the preseason all-conference teams and I know he took offense to that.”

Niang also worked to improve his focus on the offseason.

“There were times when I'd just go in and I wouldn't have that much attention to detail,” he said. “That's a crucial part of being successful at this level.”

KANE'S CALL: High-scoring transfer guard DeAndre Kane said he didn't know much about Iowa State before he decided to leave Marshall.

“I knew they went to the (NCAA) Tournament and got robbed last year against Ohio State,” Kane said. “But that's it. That's all I knew.”

FORE?: Hoiberg's golf game became a buzzworthy topic on social media over the summer, as he notched both a hole-in-one and a double eagle.

“It means I hit two lucky shots this year,” he said when asked about his overall game. “Other than that, it wasn't very good.”

GAMERS: Four-star freshmen guards Monte Morris and Matt Thomas took a four-point loss in a recent scrimmage pretty hard.

“We were pretty upset we lost,” said Morris, of Flint, Mich. “We talked about things on defense, shots we gave up, us being tired, whatever the situation was. We just know next time we're going to have to play that much harder.”