Baylor hands Iowa State first home loss, 79-70

AMES - AMES - The formula to beat Iowa State in Ames hadn't been solved in more than one calendar year.

Baylor coach Scott Drew pointed out pretty quickly postgame how to get a road win in Ames.

'Shoot 14-of-26 from 3,” Drew said. 'You're not going to do that often on the road. We made a lot of shots.”

The No. 19 Bears shot 44 percent from long range and downed No. 12 Iowa State 79-70 on Wednesday night. Baylor's (21-7, 9-6) win was its first-ever in Hilton Coliseum and also snapped the Cyclones' (20-7, 10-5) 21-game home-winning streak dating back to its last loss on Jan. 13, 2014.

'We just didn't stick together as a team,” said ISU center Jameel McKay, who finished with a career-high 21 points, eight rebounds and four blocks. 'We stopped communicating. We lost our togetherness, which led to open shots.”

The 14 3-pointers by Baylor tied a Big 12 mark for 3s in a game during conference play, and half of them came in the final 8:08.

Iowa State took a 62-54 lead with 9:13 to go on an alley-oop dunk by McKay, but the Cyclones went cold for the rest of the game, missing their last nine field goals over 6:25. The Bears hit seven 3s in a span of 3:27.

ISU coach Fred Hoiberg said he could see the late missed shots by his guys take a toll on the defensive end.

'You would have thought after the week we had and what was at stake that we would have come out with a lot greater urgency,” Hoiberg said. 'We just didn't have that early and they got comfortable and in rhythm.”

'The way I guarded out there tonight was absolutely embarrassing,” said sophomore Matt Thomas, who had 13 points and four rebounds. 'That's all I have to say right now.”

Baylor's Taurean Prince and Lester Medford tallied 20 and 12 points, respectively, and combined to shoot 8-of-13 from long range. They hit 4 of 7 during the late-game stretch and Kenny Chery finished with 15 points on 4-of-10 shooting.

The inability to hit shots and close out lately defensively voided a chance for Iowa State to enter a tie with Kansas for first place in the Big 12. Instead, the Cyclones are locked with Oklahoma and West Virginia at second place in the league.

Hoiberg knows with three games left in the regular season, the key is not letting one loss turn into two.

'You've got to bounce back,” Hoiberg said. 'We have to bounce back with a great practice tomorrow, a great energy, great effort. We've got two days to prepare for an afternoon game on the road.”