Iowa State shows resiliency in 68-62 win against Colorado

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Georges Niang didn't try to sugarcoat Iowa State's performance against Colorado. It wasn't pretty.

Whether or not it was pretty didn't matter, though. The good vibes Niang felt after the game was what was most important and it reminded him of a saying he'd heard repeatedly in his first three ISU seasons.

'A wise man always told me, ‘Don't ever feel sorry for winning,'” Niang said. 'That wise man happens to be coaching the (Chicago) Bulls.”

Winning ugly can speak volumes about a team, and No. 7 Iowa State's 68-62 win against the Buffaloes told coach Steve Prohm a lot.

Friday was the Cyclones' (1-0) first season opener against a power-five school since 1987 (Texas) and the first away from Ames since 1994 (Hilo, Hawaii). Playing a high-major team and earning buckets down the stretch to ensure a win was the necessary first step for a team with Final Four aspirations.

'This is our first real, real game with each other and we're trying to figure out the best way to let them play and also have some structured times,” Prohm said. 'We'll go back and watch the film and just keep building.”

Shots weren't falling for either team early and the Buffaloes (0-1) took advantage of open looks on the perimeter to knot the game 14-14. Colorado was 9-of-23 from 3-point range while Iowa State was just 2-of-10 with Naz Mitrou-Long hitting both treys.

Colorado took a 25-22 lead with just more than three minutes to go in the first half, but Iowa State started to take advantage of easy looks. The Cyclones used an 18-2 run to pull ahead 40-29 in the second half with Abdel Nader scoring six of his 14 points in a 1:50 span. Nader added six rebounds, two blocks and two steals.

'I think that's when Abdel Nader had a real big outbreak,” Niang, who had 17 points, said. 'He came in and got a couple baskets going for us and once we got him going, I felt like our defense got locked in and forced them to take bad shots.”

'I just had to erase that first half. I had a bad one,” Nader said. 'It was the first game of the season and I had to knock some rust off.”

Nader lost significant weight in the offseason and was a contributor to the defensive effort in the waning minutes. Iowa State outrebounded Colorado 43-38 and held the Buffaloes to 36.5 percent shooting while forcing 18 turnovers.

Mitrou-Long added 13 points with two rebounds and Monte Morris finished with 14 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals. Four Cyclones finished with three or more fouls, but Prohm praised his veteran-laden squad's resiliency.

'Proud of the way we fought through a lot of things today,” Prohm said. 'It's the first game of the year, so it ain't always going to be pretty.”

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