No. 9 Iowa State can’t hang on to lead at No. 2 Oklahoma

NORMAN, Okla. — Monte Morris had a look from long range that was picturesque.

Iowa State was ready to overcome two uncharacteristic turnovers with Morris' clean look from the top of the key that would give the No. 9 Cyclones a one-point lead in the final seconds at No. 2 Oklahoma.

It just couldn't find the bottom of the net.

'It was probably as good of a look as you're going to get, especially on the road,' said Iowa State coach Steve Prohm. 'It didn't come down to that and you talk about the turnovers. Those are kind of fluke plays. I've seen it happen before, not here, but it happens.'

Iowa State was tied or led for nearly 30 minutes against unbeaten Oklahoma, but stumbled down the stretch 87-83 in its Big 12 opener. The Cyclones (11-2, 0-1) led by as many as 11 points due in large part to senior Georges Niang's 29 points — 13-of-18 shooting — and eight rebounds, but two ISU turnovers in the final five minutes made the loss particularly hard to stomach.

Niang had the ball poked away by the Sooners' (12-0, 1-0) Isaiah Cousins, who found Ryan Spangler in transition for a layup and a four-point OU lead. With just more than one minute left, Morris dribbled it off his foot on the right wing, sullying a chance for the Cyclones to tie the game at 83.

'I've never done that in my life. Like ever. It's strange,' Morris said. 'You move forward. That, a couple missed free throws and just the bounce of the ball. You can't put your head down.'

Two late-game turnovers were particularly glaring, but Iowa State only committed 10 turnovers all night and was finding ways to slice through the OU defense early. Oklahoma got out to an 8-4 lead, but the Cyclones used a 19-4 run to take their biggest lead of the game while the Sooners went 1-for-11 during the stretch.

Niang was the catalyst in leading the Cyclones to shoot 51.5 percent from the field and 43.8 percent from long range, but Deonte Burton's spark off the bench in his fourth ISU game provided the spark.

Burton had 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting and 4-of-6 from long range, adding five rebounds and two assists as a mismatch against the OU bigs. Morris had 12 points and Jameel McKay finished with 10 points and nine rebounds.

'They switched every screen I set whether it was on ball or off ball and put Buddy (Hield) on me,' Niang said. 'That allowed Deonte to have a bigger guy on him so I figured I would let him go to work. And he was heating up so we just kept feeding the hot hand.'

Hield had 22 points and five rebounds, but was under his season-average percentage from two and 3-point range while Spangler added 20 points and 12 rebounds. Oklahoma only outrebounded Iowa State by one, but had 13 offensive boards and 15 second-chance points.

'We were basically leading the whole game so we felt like we were in control and then late in the game they just made a few extra plays to get them on top,' said Matt Thomas, who finished with nine points and five rebounds. 'It definitely stings but in the Big 12 you can't let a loss affect your next game. We're going to have to learn from this one.'

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