Confident Cyclones wanted the ball in Monte Morris' hands for final shot

AMES — Everyone was looking at Monte Morris to take the final shot Thursday night, even his All-American teammate.

Georges Niang tossed the ball inbounds with 22 seconds remaining, with Iowa State down one, and let his point guard take it down the court. Before Niang sprinted to his spot on the other end, he leaned in to give the junior a vote of confidence.

'Go win us this game,' Niang said through the roar of the Hilton Coliseum crowd.

Morris went left and lofted an arching floater that dropped perfectly through the hoop. No. 2 Iowa State survived, 83-82, against Iowa after the Hawkeyes held a 20-point lead in the second half.

'It's one of my shots I always work on, my floater,' said Morris, who had 20 points and nine assists. 'I thought it was going in when I let it go and God willed it in at the end of the day. I was happy for it for myself and my teammates for getting the win.'

Morris jumper and final sequence Here is the game winner from Monte Morris and the ensuing court storm! Hilton Magic strikes again! Courtesy ESPN2Iowa State Men's Basketball on Thursday, December 10, 2015

Here is the game winner from Monte Morris and the ensuing court storm! Hilton Magic strikes again! Courtesy ESPN2

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'That's Big Game Tae. That's what he do,' said senior Jameel McKay, who finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds.. 'I expected him to take the shot and I got out of his way. I wanted him to take the shot, we all wanted him to take the shot and as long as he takes it we know it's going in.

'He's that confident of a dude and I feel confident with the ball in his hands.'

Comparisons to the Cyclones' (8-0) win against the Hawkeyes (7-3) two years ago weren't to be ignored when Iowa jumped on an ISU team that lacked urgency on both ends of the floor. Adam Woodbury scored the first six Iowa points, but then senior Jarrod Uthoff took over.

Uthoff had 30 first-half points and gave the Hawkeyes a 43-23 lead with 4:42 to go in the opening period. A 5-0 run cut the Iowa lead back to 14 going into halftime and shrunk it to 12 to start the second half.

Iowa guard Peter Jok, who finished with 18 points and 16 in the second half, hit one of his four triples to grow the Iowa lead back to 15. The Hawkeyes kept the lead around 15 points until 11:45 to go before Iowa State went on a 16-2 run to draw the lead to one.

'I tried to call some timeouts in different situations to just get some rest,' said Iowa State Coach Steve Prohm. 'You got the media timeouts. Right when we hit that stride — because everybody was thinking, 'OK, they made their run, this is it, (they're) gassed' — I think that press gave us one more little bit of energy.'

Iowa cushioned its lead back to 82-74 after a layup from Mike Gessell, who finished with nine points and eight assists. Two team turnovers for Iowa on inbounds led to Morris free throws and a 3-pointer from Matt Thomas, who finished 19 points and four rebounds.

'They just looked like they were getting more nervous and nervous and we kept taking more shots and getting more confident and more confident,' Niang said. 'By the end of it, they just gave us the game when you think about it, like two years ago.'

Niang set up Morris' game winner by cashing in two free throws of his own and ended with 16 points, six rebounds and five assists, helping Iowa State to its third-straight win against Iowa.

'I tell our guys all the time, 'Stay the course, stay the course, stay the course and we're going to be fine,'' Prohm said. 'Monte made a big time shot. Uthoff, thank goodness he missed it.

'That was fun.'

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