Morris on point in Iowa State’s 106-60 win over Grand Valley State

AMES - Steve Prohm knew he had a gifted point guard in junior Monte Morris when he arrived at Iowa State five months ago.

What Morris did offensively in the Cyclones exhibition only reinforced the high praise heaped on him, proving he's an assist-waiting-to-happen.

'He made a great pass to Georges (Niang) today kind of in the middle of the paint - a little drop off,” Prohm said. 'He's shooting the ball with great confidence. He had 11 assists and one turnover last Saturday against Tulane. Eight assists, one turnover (today).

'He hasn't really forced anything,” Prohm added. 'A really smart, heady player and he's special. He's got a chance to be really, really good.”

Morris was a stat stuffer in helping No. 7 Iowa State to a 106-60 win against Grand Valley State, pouring on 17 points, eight assists, four rebounds, three steals and one turnover. His 28 minutes was second on the ISU roster only to Abdel Nader, who had 13 points and seven rebounds.

The Cyclones were slow going offensively in the first minutes, but Morris' 3-pointer broke a two-all tie and Iowa State never trailed after. Prohm said the offensive game plan was intentionally vanilla for an exhibition and allowed his older players to make decisions in the flow of the game.

'Coach Prohm let me play with an extreme amount of freedom out there and everyone else is playing with a lot of freedom too,” Morris said. 'I think the Spain trip definitely helped and now it's just normal. He's my coach.”

Naz Mitrou-Long hit a rhythm in the first few minutes of the second half - Iowa State led 58-28 - and had 14 of his 20 points in a 2:30 span, hitting four 3-pointers and a dunk. He added three steals in 22 minutes as he continues rehabbing from offseason hip surgeries, but it wasn't the made buckets he focused on after the game.

Mitrou-Long spent time at point guard in relief of Morris, and made five turnovers to one assist.

'I felt good, but I made some bad decisions,” Mitrou-Long said. 'I was trying to force it in there to Jameel and I should have just made the easy passes. Coach (Prohm) just came over and told me, but I felt solid. I was too lackadaisical, that's all it was.”

The Cyclones have an established top six in their rotation and have hoped to find depth seven through nine on the bench. Prohm said guard Hallice Cooke emerged Friday with 12 points, shooting 4-of-5 from 3-point range.

Cooke said playing good defense will likely be key to seeing extended minutes, but he felt confident in his first game inside Hilton Coliseum as the seventh man.

'(I've been) just learning the nuances and everything with offense, defensive rotations and knowing each spot because I have to play multiple spots either the two, three or one,” Cooke said. 'It's just all the little things and fine tuning those things.”

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