Iowa State survives Texas Tech in Big 12 home opener

AMES — Iowa State guard Matt Thomas saw his defender floating to the other side of the court trying to play help defense, and for a good reason.

Texas Tech defenders were ready to collapse on Georges Niang, who was slowly backing his way into the lane late in a four-point game. Out of the corner of his eye, Niang saw Thomas — who had been stroking it from long range all night — and fired a skip pass to him in the right corner.

Thomas pump faked his defender — who was sprinting back into position — stepped back and fired a 3-pointer. It rattled home, gave the junior a career-high night and lifted the Cyclones in their conference home opener.

'Georges found me. He's an unselfish player,' Thomas said. 'I had it going by then and I just wanted to knock it down and extend our lead.'

Thomas had 22 points and tied a career-high with six 3-pointers to help push No. 14 Iowa State to a 76-69 win against Texas Tech. His 6-for-10 shooting from long range in 38 minutes was good enough to move him into the top 13 in ISU history for 3-pointers (111), but that key bucket in the final minutes was possible because of No. 31.

'(Niang) makes the right decisions nine out of 10 times, probably more than that,' said Iowa State coach Steve Prohm. 'He made a great play and then Matt hit a big corner 3, I think that put us up (seven). That was big separation because the second half, we just didn't have it. We weren't getting enough stops.'

The Cyclones (12-2, 1-1) were out of rhythm offensively as a whole during the second half after foul trouble threatened to throw them out of sync in the first period.

Niang was whistled for two fouls in the first 2:07 and went to the bench. Iowa State used an 11-0 run to build its largest lead at 31-13 without Niang, but the Red Raiders (11-2, 1-1) drew the ISU lead back to 40-30 at halftime.

Niang picked up his third foul late in the first half and went to the bench 0-for-1 shooting in four first-half minutes. The senior finished with 14 points and six rebounds in 23 minutes, but said he didn't try to play catch up when he returned after the break.

'I'm really just out there trying to play our game and really get our guys into stuff and get guys feeling good,' Niang said. 'On defense I'm really trying to be a guy who can close out possessions with rebounds and not let my guy get deep post position.'

Texas Tech started the second half on a 9-2 run and cut its deficit to 49-48 during a stretch where Iowa State was 2-for-11 shooting. The Cyclones were 3-for-16 (18.8%) through the first eight minutes after halftime, but used the free throw line to buoy a small lead before the Cyclones could create separation in the final minutes.

Jameel McKay finished with 19 points and 14 rebounds and was 9-for-11 from the free throw line, making his first nine attempts. McKay was a 52 percent free throw shooter coming into this game, but said in the last week he's gotten a lot of confidence through his teammates — particularly Thomas — talking to him in practice.

'I'm not as bad of a free throw shooter as my percentage says and I know that so I've just been in the gym working on that,' McKay said. 'I know if I work on it, when I go to the line I can always remind myself that I did this before. That's what helped me.'

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