Georges Niang signing with an agent soon, will begin workouts

MARSHALLTOWN — Georges Niang based his senior season with the Iowa State men's basketball team on enjoying every moment.

Niang treated his Farewell Tour appearance Sunday in front of a couple thousand Iowa, ISU and UNI fans no differently. The exhibition inside the Roundhouse was unofficially the start of his professional career.

'That was a ton of fun just to get out here in a laid back environment and really just play and have fun in front of fans that are used to seeing you in game mode and stuff like that,' Niang said. 'That was really cool and hopefully they'll continue to do this.'

Team Farewell — featuring Niang, Iowa's Anthony Clemmons and Northern Iowa's Wes Washpun, Matt Bohannon and Paul Jesperson — beat the Sports Page All-Stars, 154-100, which capped a hectic couple weeks for Niang as he readies for a pro career.

Since the Cyclones' exit in the Sweet 16, Niang has interviewed with a number of agents and said he hopes to make a decision in the next couple days.

'I'll sign with an agent here soon and figure out my schedule with classes and get out to where my agent is and start working out,' Niang said. '(I'll) hopefully get invited to the combine and from there you hit the ground running.'

Niang also is fresh off accepting the Karl Malone Award, which is given to the nation's top power forward. He was in Los Angeles at the awards ceremony Friday with his family and Iowa State Coach Steve Prohm and accepted the award from Malone himself.

'I was honestly speechless because I had never been just casually sitting around Hall of Famers like that,' Niang said. 'Jerry West, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Julius Erving, Karl Malone; I was sort of star struck. I don't know if you guys could tell I was nervous. I usually don't get nervous, but that was a really cool experience.'

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