Iowa State knocks off No. 1 Oklahoma

AMES — Iowa State coach Steve Prohm always wants to make sure his guys know the option is there. In the right out of bounds situation, a little trickery can sometimes catch someone off guard.

'When nobody is on the ball, instead of fighting the pressure, just bring a guy out of bounds,' Prohm said.

It just so happened that a quick out of bounds decision helped put a bow on a win against the No. 1 team in the country. No. 21 Iowa State sealed an 82-77 win against No. 1 Oklahoma at the free throw line, but the quick decision by ISU veterans helped give the Cyclones some breathing room.

Georges Niang took the ball for the inbounds pass with Iowa State (14-4, 3-3) up two with four seconds left. Matt Thomas jumped out of bounds on the other side of the baseline and Niang fired a quick pass to him, but Isaiah Cousins followed Thomas all the way out of bounds.

'I didn't know what had happened and I was scared to death I had screwed the whole game up for a second,' Prohm said. 'You can't reach over the line and that's a technical foul.'

Thomas sank the technical free throw and moments later, Abdel Nader was fouled and sank two free throws to preserve the Cyclones win.

It was 59 years to the month since Iowa State had beaten a team ranked No. 1. From all the coaches ranging from Johnny Orr to Fred Hoiberg, it was Prohm's decision-making and coaching — in his first year — that players felt help push them over the hump.

Niang had 22 points to lead Iowa State, but Monte Morris and Abdel Nader each dropped 20. Matt Thomas — who had the task of guarding the dynamic Buddy Hield — had 12 points and nine rebounds while Jameel McKay added eight points and 13 boards while helping the Cyclones outrebound the Sooners (15-2, 4-2) by 11 and make the losses to Baylor and Texas feel like last season and not last week.

'After we hit rock bottom we came together and realized where I have flaws and Monte has to pick me up,' Niang said. 'Where Monte has flaws, Jameel has to pick him up and down through the line. I think we've done that so far and we finally put it together and I think that's a big reason when Coach challenged us.'

The teams traded buckets through most of the first half, but Iowa State used a 14-4 run to end the period to take a 41-35 lead into the break. The Cyclones grew their lead to 10 less than 1:30 into the second half, but Cousins and All-American candidate Buddy Hield helped draw the Sooners back to one midway through the second half.

Hield finished with a game-high 27 points and Cousins added a career-high 26. The Cyclones pushed the lead back to eight, but the combo of Hield and Cousins took Oklahoma on an 11-3 run to tie the game at 70-all.

After an OU turnover, Iowa State signaled a play to get Morris a look from 3. He cashed in on it and scored seven of the last 12 ISU points in the final two minutes.

'I was just able to make the shot (from 3), man, and I just give credit to my teammates for having confidence in me to take that shot,' Morris said. 'I was just happy to come through for my teammates and happy to get the win.'

Niang played in his 89th career win at Iowa State, a school record, and is fifth in the ISU record books with 1,865 career points. The senior was asked to describe where beating a No. 1 team falls in his list of accomplishments while in Ames, but he chose to look toward the future instead.

'It's up there, but we've got bigger goals for this year,' Niang said. 'I'm just trying to take it one game at a time. We've got plenty more games in the Big 12 and we've got a lot more work left to do.'

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