Cyclones’ McKay gets a shot

AMES - Jameel McKay's role might have been different, but that's not the way he looked at it.

All he wanted to do was bring energy to the Iowa State men's basketball team like he always does.

McKay was inserted into the starting lineup Saturday and the No. 11 Cyclones handled Texas Tech 75-38, in Hilton Coliseum. The rim-protecting junior had a game-high 17 points on 7-of-7 shooting, eight rebounds and three blocks in his first Division I start.

'It helped with my teammates,” McKay said. 'They looked for me early on and made it comfortable for me.”

McKay was told by ISU Coach Fred Hoiberg before the game he would start in place of Bryce Dejean-Jones, who was late to the arena along with Abdel Nader. Hoiberg said the switch was solely due to the tardiness, and that he'll have a decision to make on whether to start McKay or Dejean-Jones in a game Monday night at Oklahoma.

'It happens,” Hoiberg said of the lateness. 'It happened to me my sophomore year when we played Kansas. I got taken out of the starting lineup and went out there and played a solid game.”

The only bump in the road for the Cyclones (17-5, 7-3) came in a short stretch after the opening tip when Iowa State turned it over four times in the first five and a half minutes while leading 7-2. From there, a 22-6 run blew the hinges off the door, and Iowa State led 29-8 with 2:57 to go in the first half.

The Red Raiders (12-12, 2-9) shot just 30.9 percent from the field and 20 percent from 3-point range. Defending the 3-point line had been a point of emphasis all week for Iowa State, and the difference maker Saturday was not allowing shooters to get comfortable, uncontested shots.

'I think we had one small little stretch there where (Toddrick) Gotcher hit three of them, but after that I thought we got back to doing exactly what we wanted to in this game,” Hoiberg said.

'That was running them off the 3-point line, sending them into guys like Jameel and Dustin (Hogue). I thought they responded great.”

The 38-point total by Texas Tech is the smallest allowed in a conference game for Iowa State since Jan. 9, 1967, and the 37-point winning margin is the third-largest against a league opponent.

After losing by five points Jan. 24 at Lubbock, Saturday's victory was a big step in putting those demons to rest.

'Having lost a big one down there, we took this personally,” said Naz Long, who had 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting. 'We were taking a lot of hits defensively so we took it upon ourselves to keep our man in front of us and run them off the 3-point line and I feel like we did a good job tonight.”

Part of that defensive effort in getting guys off the 3-point line is forcing them into the lane, where the 6-foot-9 frame of McKay awaits. Despite the 17 points, McKay took the most pride in his three blocked shots and as the team's overall defensive effort.

'Of course, the loss (in Lubbock) still hurts, but it does make us feel better especially with how we approached it defensively today,” McKay said. 'I feel like today is the best defense we've played all year.”

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