Cyclones must find a way to bounce back

AMES - Frustration set in for Iowa State as it walked off the court with a one-point loss in Bramlage Coliseum. Players and coaches knew dropping their second-straight game meant another missed opportunity late in the season.

'It's tough, but stuff like this happens,” Naz Long said. 'We play in the best league in America. You can't take anyone for granted. Kansas just lost here.”

Iowa State has ridden a roller coaster in the last two weeks with two road wins then home and road losses, but will try to get on track against Oklahoma. The Cyclones (20-8, 10-6) host the Sooners (20-8, 11-5) at 8 p.m. on Big Monday for Senior Night.

The Cyclones find themselves in a tie for third place in the Big 12 with Baylor and West Virginia while Oklahoma is alone in second. The final home game for Iowa State begins the final week of the Big 12 regular season, and the late mistakes of Saturday's loss at Kansas State will be the focus.

Miscommunication between Georges Niang and Jameel McKay on an inbounds pass with less than 20 seconds led to a turnover and go-ahead dunk for the Wildcats. The play was intended for McKay to flash toward the ball, but the passing window closed up and Wesley Iwundu had a wide-open path to the rim.

'It's tough,” Iowa State Coach Fred Hoiberg said. 'You put the ball in your best player's hands. I trust Georges is going to make the right play 99 percent of the time. It happened.”

The last effort by the Cyclones to retake the lead with 4.8 seconds to go also went awry, but there wasn't much finger-pointing afterwards.

'(Jameel and I) are the closest of friends, there's no hard feelings or bad blood there,” Niang said. 'That's my brother and I'll go to war for him, but we just had a miscommunication and at this point of the season we can't have that anymore.”

Coughing up a 14-point lead on the road late in the season is certainly enough to get Iowa State's attention, but its next opponent doesn't need much help on getting the Cyclones to focus. The Sooners dominated the second-half of the first matchup and won 94-83 in Norman, Okla., despite 14 3-pointers by ISU.

Buddy Hield is leading Oklahoma with 17 points per game shooting 38 percent from long range, while Ryan Spangler and TaShawn Thomas provide bulk in the frontcourt.

'We've got to bounce back,” Hoiberg said. 'You find out a lot about yourselves.”

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