Niang the assist man

AMES - Taking four shots certainly isn't the norm for Georges Niang.

But with what he was able to do as a facilitator on the offense, how many points he scored doesn't necessarily matter.

Niang finished with nine points and a game-high seven assists, lending a big hand in the 73-56 victory for Iowa State against UM-Kansas City Tuesday night at Hilton Coliseum.

Bryce Dejean-Jones poured in another double-digit scoring effort, finishing with 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting.

'They did a good job taking away Georges,” said ISU Coach Fred Hoiberg. 'And when Georges did get in the middle, I thought he made really good decisions and I thought that showed by his seven assists. Bryce was the recipient of a lot of that.”

'Bryce was extremely hot, so I made it a point to try to get him involved,” Niang said. 'They were doing a real good job of collapsing their defense and there were a lot of kick opportunities and guys were knocking down shots.”

A fast start and another efficient shooting night for the Cyclones (6-1) built an early lead. Iowa State got out to a 26-9 advantage nearly midway through the first half and ended the period shooting 55.6 percent.

But late in the first half and then through a stretch of the second, the Kangaroos' (3-7) press forced the Cyclones into bad situations.

Iowa State led at halftime, 41-27, but Kansas City was able to narrow that deficit to 11 points eight minutes into the second half. The Kangaroos forced Iowa State into 14 turnovers in the game.

'We just let them back into the game. It was kind of on both ends of the court,” Dejean-Jones said. 'We had a couple turnovers we shouldn't have had.

'Defensively, we didn't cover a couple of those people we were supposed to on 3s and that caused them to get back in the game.”

Hoiberg said the Kangaroos' decision not to press early was likely caused by how Iowa State handled the pressure put on by Arkansas last week. He saw that pressure start to have an effect on the crispness of his team and likened it to his kids playing soccer when players would not properly space the floor.

'We were so slow getting up the floor and not attacking it,” Hoiberg said, 'and finally we got back to attacking and pushed that lead back up to 20, but we had a stretch there where it just wasn't us.”

Iowa State will now turn its attention to Friday night's matchup with Iowa. The Cyclones learned a lesson from the Kangaroos that taking their feet off the gas when things are going well can't happen against anyone.

'I think next time we're on the court, we'll be able to just become more efficient defensively and not let teams come back in the game,” said Dustin Hogue, who finished with nine points and six rebounds. 'It's a game of runs and if anybody comes back there's a chance for them to gain confidence no matter who you play.”

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